The tension in the room seems to duplicate once the countdown timer on the screen reaches the number zero and now is beeping loudly to indicate its success on doing the task.

“Detaching the brain from the main control.”

The square tablet flickered as one of them operating it in a rapid manner.

“It’s finished. The brain is now operating out of main control commands. She should be able to wake up any moment.” The one with long dark hair in ponytail said, each of her hands is inside her coat side pockets, trying to contain the nervousness.

“Heartbeat rate is stable. The breathing pattern is a bit lower than the average sleeping pattern, but still normal.”

They had come a long way to reach this point. She observed the other person who had just finished checking the project condition. She stood not more than 3 steps away from her, she looks calm and collected, with her eyes fixated to observe the project, calmly waiting for it's- no- her movement. Long before the project begins, she had already admired the other woman, who actually is two years younger than her but could stand above her when it comes to maturity in her way of handling a problem.

“Isn’t she taking too long?” Another scientist said. She also had her hair tied in a similar manner with the first one, she doesn’t even try to hide her impatience as she’s tapping her fingers on the monitor table, making a fast-paced tapping sound. She’s acting unlike herself but the fact that their subject is somewhat related to the one that’s dear to her managed to easily cut her patience short.

“Should we check on her? Maybe, there’s a problem.” The youngest of them all said. Her shoulder length hair softly waved as she stepped closer to the glass which separates the five of them from the subject. She looked at the other people behind her, but none of them said anything.

Huffing on slight irritation on how her subordinates did not pay any attention to her suggestion, she decided to take the matters into her own hands and walked to the door that led inside that clean white room where the test subject lay on the bed which looks a lot more like a huge table than a normal bed. But before she could turn the door knob open, another buzzing sound came from one of the several monitors in the room.

She halted.

“07:14 Project Shiraishi Mai is completed.”

AN : Hi, I’m new here! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu~ I'm actually not a native english speaker which is why I'm going to say sorry for the mistakes.

Also, This is not my first fanfic and I actually have 2 other on-going fics atm, but this is the only one for Nogizaka46 whom I got obsessed with since 2 months ago. Regarding this story, I have finished the first chapter and in the middle of the second, but I'm going to re-check the first one first before posting it (I'm probably going to post it later today or tomorrow). I also haven't built the plot completely which is why the update for this story is going to be slow.

As you can see this is based on Sakanatachi No Love Song mv hence the name. I hope you can enjoy it and please do tell me what do you think of this :)

She felt nothing. She’s aware that her mouth is moving so fast, speaking up to explain something that she couldn’t comprehend, one of her hand holding a thin device close to her ear, listening to what the other party is saying while the other is full with her grocery bag. But she felt nothing. She couldn’t feel her boots stepping on the pavement, couldn’t even measure the heat of her surrounding, even her body moves without her conscience, her mouth as blurting out words that she doesn’t think of speaking. As if she’s trapped inside her own body without no control over her action and could only see and hear what’s going to happen.

“Listen, this is what I need to do for myself.”

She was arguing. Her tone is sharper than usual, and her body starting to shake from the fury. Usually, she would get a headache whenever she got into an argument, not because something is wrong with the processing organ but rather because she is a person who would try to avoid an argument so much that once she got into it- her head would be victimized.

‘Even so, you can let me help you. You never let me help you, not even a bit. Always shouldering everything alone. You’re obviously burdening yourself right now,’ A voice replied trough the call

“You’ve done enough for me. Stop accusing me of shouldering things alone, while the truth you also did that to me.”

‘Did what? I’ve always told you my problems.’

“BUT, YOU’VE NEVER GIVEN ME A CHANCE TO HELP YOU. JUST LIKE HOW YOU’VE NEVER TRIED TO LISTEN TO ME.” Her tone leap a few octave higher that it surprised herself, she looked right and left and find that the street is empty.

“So now you’re blaming me for not wanting to trouble you. Nanase, You know what-“

BWEEEEEEEEEP

That’s when she stopped talking and suddenly a bright light shone on her, followed by screeching sounds of car tires brake and crashing sound of glass as well as awful crushing sound from her body. She had no idea what happened because the darkness engulfed her afterwards.

BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP

The regular mechanical rhythm of the machine could be heard. Her body still feels numb, even when she tried to move her fingers in no particular motion. Slowly she opened her eyes and let the striking light hit her vision. She blinked a few times before adjusting to the room bright lightning.

Without moving her body, she tried to inspect her surrounding, white ceiling, white lamp and it seems like the bed which pretty much is a straight surface that she’s laying on has a modern looking pillar on every corner.

This is not the first time she woke up in this place. She can remember that. In fact, most of the things that she could remember happened in this very room with almost everything happened on the surface that she’s laying on.

But something is different this time. Usually, whenever she woke up she wouldn’t be alone, they would be there asking her question and pulling her into a thorough inspection. While it is true that there were times when she wakes up alone, but not long after that someone would definitely enter the room and conduct the same observation to her.

Well, not today.

Gently she raised her body to sit up and check her surrounding once more, unsure of what to do and what not to do. She wonders where are those people that usually checking up on her. A lot of question appeared on her mind and she’s been waiting for someone to give her the answers.

When she slowly slides down from the bed she had expected an alarm to ring or the light to turn into red signaling the unusual activity, but there was nothing. The only sound that she can hear besides the beeping heart rate machine is those came from herself whenever she breathes or moves.

She noticed a television and 2 mini sofas at one end of the room, back to back with the bed. While on the other side which is the side where the bed is facing is empty, leaving the wall which is covered with a huge mirror that spreads from the top of the wall down to a meter before the floor, it also goes from the corner left side to the other and stopped right before the door.

She stepped closer to the mirror, she realized that she has no idea what does she looks like. Her memory is a bit confusing and whenever she tried to remember something, the only thing that came to her is the one that she had dreamed before.

The girl that staring back at her is slender, not tall but not short either. Her long straight hair is cool tea colored- a little bit brighter than she thought but it does complement her white skin nicely. It’s really weird, how she observed herself as if she had never checked herself in the mirror before, yet could find a sense of familiarness the more she studied her own complexion.

CLICK

She turned her head to the source of the sound, then the door was slowly opened as a young woman with a short hair stepped inside, she carried a file in one hand and the other is holding a pen. This is not the first time she came, she’s also one of the regular people who check on the other frequently, and just like usual she’s wearing white clothes with a semi-transparent coat over them.

“Good morning,” The person greeted with a little smile.

“Morning. Is it okay for me to walk around?”

“Did someone told you not to?” She asked back, the one with long hair shook her head in reply.

“I need to ask you a few question.”

“I see, so am I. Shall we do this on the sofa over there?” She approached her before led the way to the other side of the room. Once both of them are seated she started, “So, could you tell me your name?”

“Shiraishi Mai”

“Good. When were you born?”

“I’m not sure.”

The short haired pursed her lips before scribbling something on the file. “Could you tell me what can you remember? Anything is fine.”

“My name- is Shiraishi Mai. I think I was born on summer on August? I’m not sure. Other than that I can remember the time when I had an argument on the phone. It was night. I don’t remember the detail but I can remember arguing and something crashed.”

“Other than that?”

“It’s hard. Like- I know that I remember more but it’s hard to get them out. As if my memory is a room but the room is locked and I don’t have the key, even though I know what’s in the room. I don’t even remember your name, I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. I haven’t actually introduced myself. My name is Hashimoto Nanami.” She said before shook the other’s hand. “You said, you remember having an argument. Do you remember who were you arguing with?”

“Nanase. Nishino Nana-,” her voice became strangled at the end. On her dream or memory- she’s not sure, she remembers that she only say the word ‘Nanase’, but somehow she could say her complete name.

“Is something wrong, Shiraishi-san?”

“No. It’s just. In my dream. I remember only saying the name Nanase, but somehow I remember the full name.”

“In your dream? Did you have a dream?”

“I did.”

“When?”

“Just before you came in. I was sleeping.”

“Okay. Now, let’s talk about Nishino Nanase-san. Do you remember how does she look like?”

“I don’t really- you know when you couldn't remember someone’s face but sure that you will know the person once you see them.”

“I understand.” She said while nodding. Her hands are still writing on the paper even though her focus is on the other person. Then her hand movement decreased and she started to flip pages on the file before finally pulling out a pack of pictures and started to spread them across the table. “Could you tell me, if she’s in one of these?”

The pictures are quite a lot, it almost covered the entire table and each of them is different. Shiraishi started to sort them from the side closer to her, then her eyes stopped on one of them, a girl who is probably around her age if not younger, having a medium length hair that goes only a little bit passed her shoulders. She was looking at the camera with a confused look.

“This is her.” She points at the picture. “Am I right?”

“Are you having any doubt?”

She frowned at the question. Starting to get a little bit irritated with the way the other answers her question.

“I don’t have any doubt. Do you really need to answer a question with another?” Hashimoto chuckled, something that she had never seen before or heard, but it does suit the short haired a lot. She admits the way the other woman usually looks so serious is a bit discomforting for her.

“You are right. About Nishino-san and the answering a question with another. Regarding the last one please bear with me, okay?”

She nodded, “Um- about what I said before. I actually have some questions.”

“Go ahead,” she nodded while compiling the pictures in the table, stacking it neatly on her hand.

“Why am I here?”

Hashimoto sighed, then she placed the stacked pictures back on the file, “That is something that will be explained later, but not by me.”

“Sorry, I was being ambiguous with the question. I wasn’t asking about why am I in this room, but rather why am I here- in this world?” She took a deep breath before continuing, “I don’t think I’m supposed to be alive. I was dead- am I?”

AN:I'm actually still a bit confused about the font style and size in this forum. I don't think the last one looks good when I see it from my phone browser. Let's hope this one is better. What do you think? Anyone have font style recommendation?

replies:ミサキ: Thanks for reading. There's not enough english nogi-fic out there so I decided to make one :) :cow:

:welcome Thank you for writing another English Nogi fic.Oh, this be interesting. I mean robot/android Maiyan based on the PV and this kind of genre for N46 fic is rare.I'm thinking that the scientist who's being impatient might be Kazumin. Coz she's close with Nanase in Nogi so she's likely her dear one. I wonder which NanaMai this is gonna be...will it be NanasexMaiyan or NanaminxMaiyan? There's also NanaminxMaiMai, all this NanaMai we need proper ship names so we don't get confused :lol:Who knows whatever pair there might be (if any). But please continue the fic author-san because I'm curious about the answer to the "dead" question.

AN: in honor of Shiraishi Birthday I present a special one shot, this one has SayuMai paring and also Shiraishi Hashimoto platonic friendship. I hope you can enjoy this one

Shiraishi Mai Birthday Special One-Shot

You know that the earth is really messed up when it’s raining heavily on summer season. Even worse when she clearly remember how the weather forecast said that the day will be bright and shiny. While the truth it’s started to rain in like 20 minutes after the morning weather forecast show ended.

She’s not going to complain though, since she herself is pretty much a stayed at home person. In fact, the rain does help her to give a reason for simply cozying up in front of the television, with her legs below the warm kotatsu, laughing loudly at the idol variety show that is airing.

Something that she-Shiraishi Mai considers as enjoying her life.

“Seriously, don’t you want to go out and have fun?” the sound beside her interrupt her laughing fit.

“Where? It’s still raining outside, why do you want to kick me out so much?” She questioned back, frowning at her roommate irritating question.

“I’m not kicking you out. I’m just saying that today is your birthday, yet here you are by your lonesome laughing at some stupid tv show. As your best friend and roommate, I’m worried.”

She looked at the half eaten red velvet cake on the table. The said best friend and her girlfriend had actually baked that by their own, made a little celebration for her straight after she came back from her modeling gig. The girl knows well how she doesn’t actually like a big celebration- and she’s grateful for her consideration to her liking, yet the other girl couldn’t stop talking about how she should celebrate her birthday.

“I’m not alone. I have you and Maimai. It’s enough for me.” She answered, her gaze move to the later who’s laying on the other girl’s lap, from her position she couldn’t see her face clearly because she’s facing the opposite side of her, but for the soft breathing, she could tell that the older girl has fallen asleep.

“Aw, that’s really cute and touching. But think about it, most of the girl in your position would spend their birthday having fun at the club, get some drinks and try to find someone to spend their birthday with. You know, so they will feel less lonely.”

She was tempted to punch that roommate of hers. It was bad enough to feel like a third wheel all the time with her subtle flirting with her girlfriend and now she dares to put Shiraishi Mai single status on the table too. Just for the record, she doesn’t hate Maimai, she’s fond of her and couldn’t help but feel happy that her roommate who’s also her best friend since her childhood days has finally found someone as amazing as the 25 years old.

“Thanks for reminding me of my status. But I’m happy with what I am now and not even interested in one night kind of thing- seriously how insensitive can you be? You know how much I despise one night fling. Say a thing about that again and I’ll be the kind of roommate that walks in every time you’re going to do the sinful deed with your girlfriend. About the drinks, it’s not like I don’t want them but you wouldn’t let me.”

“Yep. No drinking in front of the TV on your birthday night. This is my place too, so I add a rule.” She said with a winning look, knowing that the birthday girl is not going to win on this matter.

“Hmph- Nanamin such a spoilsport.” She pouted cutely while widening her eyes.

“Not going to fall for that look. You’ll thank me later, Shi-chan.” She said, calling her with how people call her back in her preschool days. “Like seriously, you don’t want to get drunk on your birthday and ended up kissing our neighbor thinking that she’s Matsumura-san while the truth is she’s actually that Akimoto girl that you hates so much, don’t you?”

“I love how imaginative you could be when it comes to what ifs. Just so you know, I don’t hate that Akimoto girl, she’s just not the kind I would bother with. I mean, even this late at night she’s still blasting that awful music out-loud.”

Actually, it is not that disturbing, but it’s still audible from her place which is 2 doors away from the source. So it must be pretty loud.

“Because next door Matsumura-san is probably there too.” She gave her friend a look of disbelief.

Well, it’s true that she’s been having a pretty huge crush on Matsumura- ever since the said girl gave her a baked cheesecake as a ‘Hi Neighbor’ present upon moving in from Osaka. But to tell the truth, she doesn’t actually know the girl that well, apart from being friends on Facebook and following each other on Instagram and her liking almost every selfies the girl posted while refraining herself from commenting and embarrass herself.

Oh- and she does give the girl some presents which she will carefully pick whenever she come back from her parent’s house in Gunma.Of course, this doesn’t escape her roommate's eyes. It’s really annoying how easy the other girl figure that out while it took her more than 5 months and several secret and not so secret visits to find out that she is in a relationship with someone. She had even believed that Maimai was a friend that’s sleeping over to work on a university project, which is a total lie because Maimai isn’t even in the fine arts department like Nanamin does.

“Stop it, I’m not going to enter that hell just to meet Sayurin.”

“Look who’s finally on a first name basis. Does she allow you to call you that? Or you’re just calling her like how her best pals call her on the social media.”

Something inside her snapped as she grabbed the seating pillow next to her and proceed to attack Nanamin with it. Resulting the girl to fall to the other side and woke Maimai up in progress.

“What happened?” Maimai asked, she looks a little bit drowsy, courtesy of being abruptly awoken from the slumber.

“Your girlfriend is being a shitty roommate. That’s what happened.” She curtly answered while covering the roommate face with the pillow.

“Oi, oi can- not- breathe”

She lifted up the pillow a little letting the girl breathe before proceeding to attack her again. Nanamin started to attack back, she swiftly avoids her attempts and slowly turning the side of the game into the one which she’s in the advantageous position.

“Maimai, you should go to the room first, I’ll be there after this.” She said while sitting on Shiraishi legs, both of her hand pinning the birthday girl to the floor to prevent her from making any moves. If another person sees that they probably would have thought that they’re doing something wrong, but since Maimai already knows their antics she just sighed and give Nanamin a little peck on her left cheek before going to her girlfriend room. She also did give Shiraishi a quick look of apology for not helping her situation.

Knock knock knock.

That’s when they hear a knock on the front door. Both of the girls look at each other with questioning looks. She’s sure that she doesn’t invite anyone to come tonight, even more at this time. But the look on Nanamin face is saying that it’s not her guest either.

Knock knock.

“Wait for sec” she shouted while trying to get away from Nanamin, the other girl is thankfully letting her do so as she nods to the door, a signal for her to be the one who open the door.

She was surprised when she sees none other than Matsumura Sayuri waiting as she opens the door. The neighbor hair is pulled up in a slightly messy bun and she dressed up in a plain gray tee with a white shorts she wore a pretty worn beige cardigan. Even with that kind of clothes, she’s looking cute and beautiful as always.

The birthday girl fingers unconsciously went up to comb her hair, hoping that she looks presentable enough after that messy brawl with her roommate.

“Um… Hi! Um…” The neighbor stammered to continue her sentence, which has successfully increase her adorableness to a whole new level.

“Yes?”

“Do you have any sugar? I’m out of stock and not feeling like going out to buy it with this kind of weather.”

Right- the rain. She nodded and look behind her and found Nanamin there with a really weird smile. Before she could say anything she felt a pretty powerful push on her back resulting her to move forward and almost crash into the neighbor.

“What are you-” the sentence is never finished because the door slammed shut behind her followed with a clicking sound of the lock.

“That one is also sweet enough, Matsumura-san. Have a great night!” The culprit said behind the closed door.

“What are you doing? Open the door.” She shouted, knocking the door harshly.

“I’m just helping you to find some good activity to do on your birthday night. Also- it’s been a while since the last time I have the place for myself.”

“Nanamin, what are you doing?” she could hear the faint sound asking from the inside.

“Just helping my friend to make a progress on her stagnant stalker status.”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING? Maimai, please hit that girlfriend of yours and open the door.” She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

And that’s when she hears a soft laugh coming from the girl beside her. The laugh is a bit awkward something that she had never thought will come from the girl, but also something that suits her the best.

“Sorry, it’s just, I don’t have a roommate and seeing you bickering with yours is quite funny.” The girl apologized the corner of her lips is up to form a sincere smile.

“Don’t be sorry, you’re not at fault here.” She said gulping down at the sight next to her. She averted her gaze to the floor when she realized that she has been staring. Not a day has passed since she has turned 24 years old, yet she already acted like an idiot. She scolded herself for that.

“Oi, let me in. Matsumura-san is here for some sugar and I can’t get it with your childish joke.”

“Matsumura-san? That’s not how you call her name. Isn’t it Sayurin?” came the answer from inside.

She feels so embarrassed that she think Nanamin should be grateful that there’s a door to protect her from her wrath. Seriously her jokes are getting unfunny and her hands are itching to strangle her best friend. At least for her. She looked at the girl beside her, but she wasn’t laughing, in fact, she was looking anywhere but her. It was suffocating and awkward.

“Sorry for this. I guess I can’t help you much with the sugar. B- but if you want to go out and buy it. I’m willing to accompany you,” she decide to break the tension, but hearing no response from the girl she quickly added, “only if you feel like doing it, though.”

“It’s okay, it’s just for making popcorn anyway,” she said.

Shiraishi frowned at the answer, not because she had smoothly rejected her offer even though that actually hurts a lot more than it should, but she's kind of confused because she thinks that there are other things that could replace that sugar and most of them will do better for the taste than normal sugar.

“Um.. You see, you can use something else to make popcorn. Like honey, butter and salt.” She said trying not to voice her confusion upon the ingredient that the girl wanted to use.

“Really? I didn’t know that before. Thank you.” Her eyes widened- she’s looking at her as if she had just save her life. “Shiraishi-san, do you want to join me for the popcorn and movie? It looks like your roommate wouldn’t let you in anytime soon.”

“YES,” she was surprised at how loud her voice is, “I mean sure. I would even help you with the popcorn as a thank you.”

Correction. It is more towards a concern that is starting to grow over the neighbor cooking than a simple thank you, but she’s not going to say it out loud. She followed Sayurin into the apartment, gulping down her excitement when she realized that she had never walked past the front door before.

Matsumura Sayuri's place is pretty much different with hers, maybe because it’s a studio type whilst hers is a 2 bedroom apartment. The kitchen is next to the front door facing the bathroom, and after that is a pretty large space that contains everything starting from bed until 2 person dining table. Unlike her who choose to place the television a little bit lower so she could watch it while cozying it up on the kotatsu, Matsumura has a pretty big television hanging on the wall with a proper couch facing it. Besides the television, there are several frames which consist of her family photos and her graduation diplomas also a picture of her with a bunch of other people she doesn’t know standing on a stage with their hands holding a cute tiny anime action figures.

“So how are you doing?” She opened the conversation.

“Tiring, but it means everything is good I guess.” Sayurin laughed,

“What does it like to be a fresh graduate?”

“Stressful, my current job is not related to my degree at all. So it is a bit- you know.” She smiled bitterly remembering her own diploma from Tokyo school of performing arts that is stuffed somewhere back in her drawer.

Sayurin nodded sympathetically while opening the kitchen cupboard taking out a pack of corn along with other ingredients that she had mentioned before.

“Let me help you,” she said when she noticed the other girl struggling to decide which kind of cooking pan she is going to use.

“You really don’t need to,” Sayurin shook her head and place the pan on the stove.

“I insist,” she chuckled before washing her hands in the kitchen sink then started to unwrap the butter, “consider this as my apology for my roommate behavior.”

“If that’s what you want, sure.” Sayurin stepped back letting the guest taking control of the cooking.

“Um.. Shiraishi-san, please do tell me when you get a role, I’ll come to watch your performance.”

She covered the pan with the glass cover then tilted her head a little, “Really? Thank you very much, I’ll make sure to tell you, I’ll try to get you a ticket.”

Now she’s fired up to go into every stage play audition in the city. She give the other girl a big smile just so she understand how much she actually appreciate her interest. “Matsumura-san too, do tell me about your roles, I will definitely watch that.”

Actually, she has gone past her anime lover period, but seeing how the other girl wanting to see her performance has an effect on her.

“I haven’t yet got anything big, just a few supporting characters which appear for a limited time,”she laughs, “Also- you may call me Sayurin, o- only if you want to, though.”

“Then Sayurin, please call me Mai or Maiyan”

“Maiyan,” she said cheerfully, Mai averted her eyes to the cooking pan trying to focus on the popping sound of the popcorn rather than the girl beside her who somehow become even more irresistible in every second.

“So, Maiyan, I was thinking of watching a horror movie. I recently got a supporting role for the dub in its latest series so I want to watch the old one to improve my characterization. If it’s okay with you?”

She’s not good with horror. Not at all. When she was young probably around 8 or 9 years old, there is a story spreads among the students about their school land was used for burying people who died from the war torture.

Then one night little Nanamin managed to drag little Mai who had already dressed up in her pajama to make a quick run from her house to prove the horrifying theory. They met up with a couple of another student in front of their school and decided to pair up, consisting of boy and girl- using the weird logic that the boy will protect the girl in case something happens.

She ended up with a boy which always considered the coolest of them all, after breaking into the building by the window the two of them started their little journey with the boy holding a flashlight that he had brought from home. Well, they actually managed to explore up to the second level of the building which is where suddenly they hear a croaking sound.

Both of them were scared and of course started to run as fast as they can, but unfortunately Mai trousers was a little bit too long, causing her to slipped and fall down and her supposed to be partner wasn’t even looking back when it had happened.

In just a matter of seconds,little Mai is already alone. She crouched down and cried for a time that she couldn’t remember, but it does seem so long until a footsteps came and Nanamin found her.

After that, she has never been able to handle dark places and scary stories, just like how she has never been able to put up with opposite gender.

Back to the present time, she- who had regretted her words a second after saying okay to her beloved neighbor choice of the movie- doesn’t know what to do. Sayurin seems to be so excited throughout the movie, telling her about the character that she’s going to do the voice over and asking her about the opinions of how she should portray her.

The newbie voice actress also commented that the popcorn is really good which she is replied with simple thanks and an offer to have some dinner in her place sometime, of course, she’s the one who will cook for the other girl.

But after a dreadful first quarter of the movie Sayurin had stopped talking and started to focus on the movie while she tried to look anywhere besides the television or the one that sits beside her. Well her eyes did wander to the screen every time her gaze meet the other girl and there are times where the jump scare happened and she accidentally grabbed Sayurin’s arm in reflex. That kind of thing happened a lot and she started to feel guilty because she was genuinely shocked and her response is always to grab the nearest living thing to her. It probably looks like she's doing that on purpose.

“Maiyan, could it be- are you scared?” She asked.

She had her mouth slightly opened while her mind is still deciding whether she should tell the girl the truth or not. She doesn’t like it if people know that she is scared of such things but she also wants to admit that she couldn’t handle watching something gory or scary even more both of them combined.

Before the words could be formed in her mouth the electricity gone out.

“S-sayurin?” She gripped the other girl's hand tightly.

She could feel comforting fingers engulfing hers, “I’m here. I’m going to check the circuit for a moment, okay?”

She had expected the girl to laugh calling out her childish behavior. But she doesn’t. She squeezes her hands back in a comforting and calming way, “Okay. Would you like to check the circuit with me? Or would you rather stay here for a moment?”

Mai had tried to speak she really did, but her mouth just mumbled incoherent words. She tried to remember the last time she has been in this kind of situation and what she did to get over it, but her brain seems to be working so slow.

She could feel the tears started to fall because of her frustration. She always tried to hide it, putting up the cool mask on her face, she hates the fact that she’s actually weak with this kind of simple things and now she’s trying to stop herself from crying.

“Hey, it’s okay Maiyan. I’m here and I won’t leave a cute girl behind.” Sayurin tried to joke when she realized what is possibly happening, she couldn’t see much because the lack of lights, but she tried to guess from how the other girl is keeping her silence and her hands slightly shaking.

With the warmth of Sayurin hold on her hands, she tried to calm herself down, the other girl did not say anything else, just simply letting her took the time.

“You see, today is actually my birthday, yet here I am trying not to cry because my fear of darkness. I’m pathetic, aren’t I? S-sorry for bothering you.” She said after a few minutes of silence.

“I don’t think being scared of something is pathetic, I consider that as a thing that make us humans. I’ve always seen Maiyan as someone perfect, without any flaws, but now I can see that Maiyan is just human- the normal one,” Sayurin chuckled before continuing, “and I like this side of Maiyan.”

“I like you too”

If it hadn’t for the other girl hands holding hers, she would probably had cover her mouth upon realization of what she had blurted out. But the way Sayurin hands are still not moving, is that mean that she’s okay with that?

DING DONG, the sound of the bell echoes inside the dark room.

“I'm the next door Hashimoto, I’m here to get Mai.” She announced.

“We’ll be there in a sec!” Sayurin answered out loud,

“Before you leave, I want to say thank you for putting up with me. Sorry for making you watch that kind of movie,” she continued with a softer tone.

“It’s fine. It’s partly my fault for not stopping you. I hope we can hang out again someday, would you like that?”

“Of course and also there’s another thing-”

Mai had her eyebrows raised when the other girl didn’t fell silent at the end. Then she realized that the other girl is moving closer, and now facing her properly.

That’s when she felt a soft touch on her lips. It was quick, not even 3 seconds long, not enough for Mai to snap out from her confusion and reply to the action. But the sensation lingers a little bit longer.

“Happy birthday Maiyan, I’m sorry for ruining your birthday night.”

“You didn’t ruin it- actually, it’s not even the worst birthday and- and, of course, spending it with you is actually what makes it better. And memorable,” she reasoned her mouth were trying the best to form the sentence without stuttering like an idiot.

She was refraining herself from shouting that the kiss has that effect to boost the day into her most memorable and cherished day.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Sayurin chuckled.

“W-well it’s time for me to go back- Nanamin is already out there waiting and she’s going to tease me senseless if I got her waiting for too long.” She stood up, her fingers are still intertwined with the other girl.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Sayurin said, standing up and slowly guiding her to the front door, “And also- just for you to know, I like you too.” She said in a soft whisper that is loud enough for only the birthday girl to hear and opened the door.

Just like inside Sayurin’s place the hallway is also dark, it seems like the electricity of the whole building is out. Nanamin was leaning her back against the wall beside the door, playing a game on her phone to help her wait.

“Someone said this happened because Akimoto-san’s party. Seems like one of her guests got too wild and ended up causing a little bit of shorting in the electricity,” Nanamin explained, from her tone Maiyan could sense that she’s quite annoyed with the whole thing.

“They better be, or I’m going to kill that girl in the morning,” Mai muttered under her breath.

“Maiyan, snapped out of that kuroishi mode, will you? Even though it’s dark and we couldn’t see your expression clearly it’s still terrifying.” Nanamin said.

“hmm.. sure, well so- Sayurin I’m going back to my place, see you later.” She said after getting rid of her anger.

“Okay, see you later, thanks for everything.” She nodded, reluctantly let go of the other girl hands.

“It's fine, I’m really sorry to bother your night, you need to apologize too, Nanamin” Mai replied before using her hand to force Nanamin to bow her head a little bit.

“Why do I need to apologize? What I did actually make you two closer, isn’t it?” she complained, but because Mai is still forcing her to bow she surrender, “sorry.”

“It's fine, you’re not wrong about the getting closer part.”

“See?”

“Well- see you, Sayurin,” Mai said with a wave of her hands before following Nanamin to their own living quarter, she could feel her mouth is forming a wide smile when her brain recounted what had happened between her and Sayurin.

She realized that she had skipped the wishing part before blowing her birthday candles. She takes it as a good thing because now she knows what is it that she truly wanted.

For that kiss to not be the last.

~fin~

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MAIYAN :cow:

To be honest, I don't consider writing light stuff as my forte, that's why it got a bit heavy in the middle, but I'm really trying to keep it as light as possible. I hope it will be up to your guys liking. About the pairing I actually ship SayuMai too, I even consider inserting Sayurin in the on-going story so it could become a love triangle kind of thing but I'm still thinking about that.

This turns out to be longer than I thought- in terms of story length and writing time, that's why I'm going to say sorry because the sakanatachi update is still quite far for complete. It probably going to take me another 3 or 4 days to finish it, because I'm stuck with Uni activities.

replies

ミサキ: sakanatachi is NanaMai pair- but this one shot is SayuMai, I hope you can enjoy it :)

pretend_2besome1: I actually love to challenge a genre that has less to none people that wrote. You're right about Kaz. And about NanaMai- this is really confusing, let's just call the nanasexmaiyan NanaMai, while nanaminxmaimai HashiGawa and the nanaminXmaiyan ShiraHashi (I'm bad with name, I'm sorry :bow:). I assure you there will be a pair, they might face challenges ahead but I'm trying to pair them up.

akbcoupleshipper: which Nanamai are you talking about? hehehehe let's just hope the NanaMai that you want is the same with the one I have in mind. Thank you for reading :cow:

All this precious HashiGawa *melts* Oh Nanamin, I don’t know if I should call you a good friend or a bad one. But good job either way :mon fyeah:I suppose in this OS Maiyan and Sayurin kinda switched personalities. Maiyan is so cute, though.I’ll be honest, I’m actually enjoying NanaminMaiyan as much as any other pairs here despite being platonic lol somebody needs to write them in a non platonic way because authors have been writing the other combinations of NanaMai and I'm craving to read one (I so blame the PVs and shows with them together looking good/cool lol).

You did good writing this one, it’s light and fun to read. About the love triangle thing in your ongoing fic, I’ll say why not?I agree with the NanaMai and HashiGawa, but we probably need to ask other people to find a proper ship name for NanaminMaiyan one. Anyone know what the Japanese fans called them? I wonder if I'm the only one who actually ship them romantically... :mon sweat:

Hashimoto bit her lower lip, looking at the table in front of her instead of the one she’s speaking to, “I’m sorry. But- it’s not my place to answer that.”

“So someone else will tell me the answer?”

“Perhaps.”

The long haired brunette purses her lips- she seems to be unsatisfied with the answer, “But, Hashimoto-san, you know the answer, don’t you?”

Hashimoto fell silent, all that she want is get herself out from the room as soon as possible. If only she could do that. She unconsciously looks behind her to the glass that looks like a normal mirror from the place she’s in. She felt like even with her silence the other girl could figure out the answer correctly.

“Are they… Um- Are we being observed?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Without denying her suspiciousness the researcher tried to assure the other girl who has started to look around the room probably trying to spot a camera or something similar. “Is there anything else you would like to know? Because we have something else to do.”

“Okay, the last one. Is there anyone whom I know personally that aware of me being here?”

“I couldn’t disclose the name but- yes,” she answered carefully. For a moment the other girl seems to be thinking, perhaps trying to make a list of possible name on the matter, then she looked up and nodded.

“Now, I will play several videos on the TV. What you need to do is simply to watch them.” Hashimoto reached for her tablet which not only useful to monitor and control the subject but also can be used as a controller of a lot of electronics around the building; including the television in the room. After selecting several videos to be played on a playlist then she pressed play.

The first one is a short animated video about a kiwi that wanted to fly, that poor bird, of course, failed so many attempts, yet it keeps on trying and trying. The video has a pretty ambiguous ending which makes the scientist who actually had never seen it before become quite irritated.

And they call it a great short film.

Hashimoto had just realized that she was distracted by the video that she forgot to pay attention to the tablet. She quickly gets back into her duty, observing the activity of the subject’s heart and brain. After studying the waves intently, she scratched her head in a mix of confusion frustration, realizing that something strange has been happening out of her watch.

The heart and brain should have reacted to the host experience, where in this case, should show a little bit change in their activity because of the videos. But the waves remain in stable condition. Hashimoto looked at the long haired girl, she had expected the girl to have the focus elsewhere but the screen- which could be a possible answer of the result on her tablet, yet she is actually watching the video intently.

The second video which is a comedy had finished with no reaction from the girl at all, and now they are in the middle of the third, this one is a really sad video about couples who have been separated from each other.

Still nothing.

It's as if her brain doesn’t even process what she’s been watching. If only that the videos are random, Hashimoto would surely count them as a possible cause of the weird occurrence, but this is actually some that have been carefully selected, and this kind of monitoring method have been tested in several people before. Not to mention even though those cases are really different from her current subject, the method has never failed the result.

So the cause of the problem is more likely none other than the subject herself.

With the third video went by without a single change on the subject heart and brain activity- not even a slight change in her ever calm demeanor, Hashimoto pressed the pause button. There is one more video to go, but for now, she has to ask some questions to the other girl.

“We’ll continue that later, for this moment, I need to ask you some question,” the scientist explained then waits for the other girl to acknowledge her words before continuing, “could you please tell me about the first video?”

“It’s about a bird. A kiwi bird. The bird wanted to fly but he’s a kiwi so he couldn’t fly. I think I’ve seen that video before.”

Hashimoto raised her eyebrows letting Shiraishi think a little bit to figure out the answer.

“Oh I remember, I’ve actually seen it before, Nanase like kiwis so she has that video on her laptop.”

Well, at least the subject’s memory is gradually improving. Actually, it is good that she’s remembering little by little than having to know all of those at once because it could be overwhelming. If it is not for the new problem, Hashimoto would’ve to feel relieved by now.

She checked the thin tablet again, but still- no change. She tried to keep her composure to match the subject calmness, “what do you think about the video?”

“I don’t know. It is good- I suppose. It does contain a moral story.”

“How about the second and the last, what do you think about them?”

“The person in the second one is really silly and the couple in the third one are actually sweet to each other,” Shiraishi stopped talking but her mouth is still opened a little, “something is wrong, isn’t it? I mean- the second one it’s supposed to be funny.”

“You didn’t find it funny?”

“I didn’t, I didn’t even know which part is supposed to be funny. I saw the people in the video laughing, that's why I realized that it's supposed to be funny, but I saw it just like that. As if the person is simply talking about the weather.”

“Okay, now let’s continue to the last one. I need you to pay attention to this properly.”

Shiraishi nodded, her attention is already back to the screen as Hashimoto hit the play button.

Hashimoto divides her focus into studying the girl reaction and the tablet in her hand. The last video is meant to test their reflex. The first thing that it shows it just several ranging colors that spreads in form of circles around the white screen, for a moment it looks like a more messed up colorblind check picture, then the circles slowly moved, before suddenly- a really terrifying ghost appear, coming forward as if it’s trying to jump out from the screen.

A normal human would be surprised, even jumping out of the chair is actually quite understandable, she had checked the reports that Shiraishi was also someone that get scared quite easily, but the one standing beside her made no move at all. She probably watched the whole ordeal without batting an eye, just like how the tablet is not showing any changes.

“I’m not surprised. Wow.” The long haired said flatly despite the words of disbelief.

“We’re done for now. After this, there would be some other thing that you will have to do, but I’m not going to be the one in charge of them.” She stated, trying to ignore the girl comment.

Hashimoto reached for the file before standing up to leave the room. She nodded politely to the other girl then turned her back on her. She was a few steps away from the door when she heard the girl asking, “Hashimoto-san, you will try to fix this problem, won’t you?”

She spent a few seconds to process the question and forming the answer, looking to the side a little bit she said, “I’ll do what I can. See you later, Shiraishi-san.”

When the door closed behind her she could feel several eyes are watching her, she just tried to ignore them and goes to her own desk instead. She placed the file along with the tablet then folded her arm on the white surface before proceed to lay her face on it.

She could hear some soft steps coming near her before eventually stops, but the short haired keep her position and trying her best to ignore the other’s presence.

“You are allowed tell her, you know? As the project leader, you have a right to tell her about the truth.” The person said with a soft reminding tone.

“I know that. It’s just that I think it would be better if Ikuta-san is the one who give the explanation. She’s the one who knows her after all- not to mention that she’s the director of the division.” She raised her head a little, eyeing the other girl who seemed to be in deep thinking. She had let her long dark hair loose around her shoulder instead of having it in a neat ponytail like before.

The other girl- Fukagawa Mai is probably the only one inside the building that she could call a friend than just a colleagues, they even shared an apartment together since their early day of working in the company.

“I’m sorry, because of my failure you will need to monitor her even more closely,” Hashimoto said sincerely, but the other girl shook her head before bending down a little bit to be able to face her properly, “It’s understandable, don’t take it too hard on yourself, okay?”

Hashimoto muttered an almost audible thanks to the other girl, her words actually help her to feel a little bit better. She scanned the room quickly, hoping to find the girl that she had mentioned before. She was there before the scientist entered the subject’s room but now she’s nowhere to be found.

Her eyes met with the third person in the room who is staring blankly through the glass, from the schedule it is clear that now it’s her time to enter the subject’s room and run some observation, but seems like she was still busy in her own mind after what had happened.

The thing is, the girl- Takayama, had asked for the short haired help to continue to her part of the observation, hoping that she could stay behind the glass- in a basically separate room with the subject. However, because Hashimoto's own observation doesn’t go as expected, the short haired did forget about that and ended up leaving the room.

“Takayama-san, do you think she will remember you?” Hashimoto asked when she realized the reason behind the other girl sudden nervousness. She doesn’t know well about the other long-haired scientist, but a few months ago she had realized that just like the girl who’s currently not present- Takayama also knows the subject.

Back then Hashimoto was furious, she was okay with Ikuta knowing the subject because she’s not actually the one who handles the subject directly, but Takayama position was too risky. Someone who knows the subject personally is prone to be emotional and this could cloud their judgment.

Ikuta and surprisingly Fukagawa had somehow managed to assure her that having her in the team is okay, with a reason that Takayama doesn’t actually know Shiraishi personally. For Takayama, Shiraishi was her best friend's girlfriend but she did not chat with her much. Ikuta had also assured the project leader that she is allowed to ban the younger scientist from the observation room if her judgment is ever clouded by her feelings.

“I’m not worried about her remembering me,” Takayama sighed interrupting the scientist from her deep thought, “I don’t know what to say if she asks me about Naa-chan.”

Then Hashimoto realized that this could actually help her case, she raised her head to look properly to the other girl who had just spoken, “You should start considering to let your friend know about this, because I’m going to need help from those who actually knows her, especially the one that she cares so much.”

“Leave her out of this, there’s no guarantee that she would want to help you.”

“Takayama-san, my job here is to make this project successful. I have no obligation to keep the others feeling in check other than the feeling of that subject that you’re looking at right now. I am the project leader, so I have complete authority to conduct things that I deemed necessary to help the subject. Now you just need to decide whether you want to be the one who tell her about this or me.”

AN:I said a thing about trying to insert Sayurin in the fic, but when I tried to build a plot with Sayurin involved it strayed a bit from the main story which will be complicated and not good. So perhaps another time or maybe I will make another SayuMai one-shot. Usually, I wrote one-shot whenever I'm having a writer's block- so perhaps those could be more focused on SayuMai. This way is also good because nobody will get hurt and Maiyan get all the girls.

Replies:

ミサキ: Your welcome, come again XD

pretend_2besome1: Hi C! hmm... you can call me F then, since both my username and real name starts with an F :)

Actually, what I wanted to write is Sayurin bought and brought the cheesecake from Osaka so of course the taste is top notch, I forgot to mention that lol my fault. Also, it is always fun to put blames on Manatsu :twisted:

Furthermore, I love to have Nanamin as Maiyan bestfriend and it was also my intention to accentuate the friendship between them because I think it will be better for the story because it was her birthday and not only crushes that can be a good company to celebrate it. Even though Nanamin was quite annoying in a good way hahahaha

and I actually did a little research about what people usually call ShiraishiXHashimoto, turns out several really do use 白橋 [shirahashi] then I remember that Shiraishi and Takayama combi were called 'white high' back in shibuya blues days. So perhaps 白橋 could also be something like 'white bridge' :?

Well you're not the only one who ships Shiraishi and Nanamin, in fact, the management seems to keen on this pairing a lot, *cough Tachinaori chuu and Kodoku kyoudai

Yoohoo!I have reappeared. This is a very nice story with an interesting plot and I like your writing style friend. Very good start and I can't wait for the future updates. Keep up the good work! :twothumbs

Hey, F! XDMaiyan is sharp. She knew they're being watched.Kiwi, reminds me of that Naachan’s Nogibingo segment.So Maiyan understand the feeling but she is unable to feel it? Like the heart and the mind got disconnected?Did Nanamin know Maiyan somehow? She seemed more invested than just being a project leader who wants her project to success.Didn’t expect Iku-chan to be the director, but that means Maiyan is really important to her. A family member perhaps? I ship IkuMai as sisters.MaiMai always so gentle and they live together, HashiGawa! :cow:I dunno what to feel about bringing Naachan. She’s probably relieved that Maiyan is “alive”, but she’s gonna be sad her Maiyan becomes this unfeeling android :frustrated:

And Manatsu sometimes likes to bait Kuroishi too, that girl really doesn’t learn :lol:Yea, management fave along with WakaNana, although nowadays it shifted to NanaMai.Those MVs are exactly what gets me shipping NanaminMaiyan. Mainly Koudoku Kyoudai+prequel fault. That, and there’s just something so endearing when Maiyan who is usually strong and dependable, looks vulnerable and clings on Nanamin for....comfort/safety? Or when Nanamin caresses Maiyan's head. It just melts my heart. Like:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26073663/KK1.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26073663/NanaminMaiyan.jpg) (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26073663/NM2.jpg)I remember the White High combi from 3rd b’day. So probably if MaiyanNanamin is called White Bridge, the “bridge” could be referring to Nanamin’s nose? :?

Edit: Coincidentally (it's fate I'm telling you lol) I just watched the 15-20-12 X'Mas show and the White Bridge thing was Nanamin, Maiyan, Sayurin discussing about their unit song name. Hashi is Bridge when I googled it. I thought it would include traits like Maiyan is White skin-wise, hence I thought it'd refer to her nose. Anyway, still ShiraHashi sounds funny for me, it makes me want to say Hashire somehow :nervous

The room has fallen into silence resulting an increase of the tension even more. Takayama Kazumi couldn’t make out the words that she wanted to say, she wanted to say no, she wanted to tell her leader that she will support every other technique that she wanted to use as long it’s not involving her best friend.

But she knows that it will not change anything.

“Takayama-san, if you don’t feel like doing the check-up I could help you,” Fukagawa said, she is trying to break the silence as well as the heated staring contest of the two other girls.

“It's fine,” she sighed in an attempt to relieve herself from the invisible pressure on her mind, “the check-up and also informing Nishino-san of the subject- I’ll do it.”

The girl nodded politely at both of her coworkers before grabbing her thin tablet and enter the subject’s room. Hashimoto walked closer to the observation glass, she watches the younger scientist's way to approach the subject.

“I’m Takayama Kazumi, if the report is right then you probably have remembered me even before I said it,” Takayama said before the subject could say anything.

“You’re also one of those people who were working on me.”

“Correct. Now Shiraishi-san, we’re going to do a little check on you, this will be easy and wouldn’t take long. So let’s try to keep this short and save your questions for later, okay?”

The subject nodded and started to listen for Takayama further instruction which Hashimoto doesn’t really pay attention to. The short haired just focusing her attention on the subject who has yet shown any real emotion. Hashimoto had realized that Shiraishi sometimes smiles a little or shown a face of disappointment. However, the truth behind her seemingly human expression is a situation assessment based logic.

She reached for her tablet unlocking the device before scrolling down the contacts and chose one of them. She turned around so she doesn’t face the subject’s room then she dialed the number.

‘Research division’s director quarter, how may I help you?’ came a voice from the tablet.

“Hi, I’m Hashimoto Nanami the leader of project 046. Is the director available?”

‘I’m afraid not. Ikuta-san is having directors' meeting at the moment, would you like to leave a message for her?’

Hashimoto thinks for a moment before replying, “Please tell her that I called and expecting her to be able to visit the observation room soon, there’s a complication that I could not elaborate on call.”

‘Sure, I’ll tell her that. Is there anything else that you need, Hashimoto-san?’

“That would be all, thank you.” She said politely before ending the call, her eyes met with the other occupant of the room who seems to be staring at her intently. The older girl has the same serious expression whenever she wanted to talk seriously with someone and right now that’s what Hashimoto is seeing.

Proving her suspicion, Fukagawa walked to just a meter beside her, for several seconds she inspected the occurring on the next room. Then, the older girl averted her focus and look straight into the short haired eyes, “I think you shouldn’t have pushed Takayama-san like that, you were being too harsh, not to mention inconsiderate.”

“What else can I do? Even though the project has been declared finished it is still not complete. We’ve already spent too much time.” She reasoned

“Is there any problem? I mean, anything besides Shiraishi-san’s problem.”

Hashimoto was baffled by the sudden change of topic that it took her quite a while to process the question, “Nothing that you should be concerned of, Fukagawa-san.”

Fukagawa had already learned from a long time ago that Hashimoto is quite a stiff person whenever she’s inside the working environment, one example of this matter is the fact that she had never call anybody with their first name. This also applies to Fukagawa whom she called with nickname whenever they are outside the workplace. However, despite her formal way of addressing someone, Hashimoto usually try to put herself in the same wavelength with her subordinates. In this case, the neuroscientist usually shares the problem that she’s having with both Takayama and Fukagawa. This is the first time Fukagawa heard something like that from the 24 years old.

“I didn’t mean to put it like that, sorry.” Hashimoto said when she realized what she has done, but the long haired shook her head then averting her gaze away, “I was just- I don’t want to add another burden to you.”

Hashimoto realized that whatever reason that she say would not change a fact that her word has actually hurt the other girl, moreover Fukagawa could be thinking that she does not trust her anymore which is something that she always tries to avoid.

In frustration, she pressed her forehead into the glass, shutting her eyes while scolding herself inside. If only she was alone she probably would have started to hit the wall with her own head- something that she used to do back in her younger days.

She was racking her brain, trying to come up with something better to say to the older girl when the door behind them opened, the soft sound of the door sliding reached her ears. She turned around and found the division director-Ikuta Erika approaching them.

“How is she?” the young girl asked, taking her place right between the two scientists.

“There is a complication.”

“Which is?”

“A part of her hippocampus neuron is not working properly. It doesn’t produce emotion and it’s also unable to create body reaction- including a change of heart rate,” Hashimoto explained.

“Is she able to feel physical pain?” the younger girl asked, averting her gaze from the subject and look straight to the Fukagawa instead.

“I have yet conducted a test on that. But in theory, she wouldn’t be able to.”

“I see,” Ikuta said lowering her gaze to the floor. For a moment Fukagawa wonder if the younger girl is going to cry, but she the tears didn’t come, instead she sighed harshly before looking up again.

Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder about what the young director is thinking. Ikuta Erika is not your average 21 years old, that is the fact that everyone inside the large building is aware. She’s known for her brilliance, some even say that her IQ is way past normal humans, but the young girl is not only taking her seat as the director of the research and development division; she also own Nogizaka enterprise.

However, she’s not supposed to be the only one.

When Ikuta was only 5 years old, her mother marry the CEO as well as the owner of the company, but the man was not alone, he already have one beautiful daughter that is older than Ikuta by a few years.

The daughter is none other than Shiraishi Mai.

Some people who known Ikuta personally said that the young director was closer to her step sister more than everyone else in her family. Many people believe that it is the very reason for the girl to conduct the project.

Once, Ikuta had asked Fukagawa about whether she think it is morally right to bring someone back from death, back then the scientist had answered that she personally doesn’t consider the project as resurrection.

What they have done is not resurrection. The subject was in a comatose state, while it is true that back then her heart was only beating because of machine support; that still doesn’t put her on death category. What they have done is basically moving her consciousness by moving her brain into a new host: an artificial body with artificial organs that will be able to support her more than her old broken one.

What they have done is preventing her death, yet looking at the current condition it’s starting to feel like they are playing with someone’s fate.

In the other room, Takayama looks like she is already finished with the check-up, she was being honest when she said it wouldn’t take long. What she did is basically just a quick check on how the subject moves her body. The android modeler is now telling Shiraishi several things about the subject room, like how to contact them in case something happens or how to operate the TV. That’s not included on her to-do list but since her test is really quick and someone has to do it eventually she silently volunteered to do the task.

“Oh and you could also set the room temperature to your liking with that tablet on the TV table, but I think it is wise to prevent from changing it. Since your senses are not working properly you could accidentally freeze yourself or do the complete opposite, which would not be good at all.” She explained before looking around to confirm herself that she had told everything that the girl needs to know about the place.

“Takayama-san, does Nanase knows that I’m here?”

“Huh- I wonder, what do you think?” the scientist replied, she is feeling a little bit snappy that Shiraishi had managed to bring Nanase to the conversation- which reminds her of her cruel task that she will do after her work today.

“I think you probably wouldn’t tell her, and she wouldn’t be involved in something like this, so- most likely she doesn't know.” She uttered her mind, thinking that Takayama was actually asking her instead of being sarcastic, “Is she okay?”

Takayama turned around looking straight into the other girl eyes, “Of course she’s not. Shiraishi-san, you basically were not in a stable loving relationship with her and then you basically passed away, but not before wasting a year sleeping on the hospital bed in a vegetable state.”

She had actually regret every single of her words as soon as she finished with the last, but she realized that it could probably lure the subject’s emotion to come back just like what Hashimoto want to do by using Nishino, and even if it doesn’t manage to get her to feel something it also means that Shiraishi wouldn’t be hurt anyway.

“Takayama-san, please don’t tell Nanase about me,” she said, her calm yet stiff expression doesn't change at all from before.

Takayama feels like laughing in frustration because that is the thing that she wants to do the most, yet couldn’t, “If only I could do that, but I’m afraid that would be impossible.”

She observes the other girl from head to toe, realizing that she had managed to create the perfect android, something that she always wanted ever since she started to be interested in android modeling.

If the circumstances are different she probably would have felt proud of herself to be able to accomplish one of her dreams, yet she's actually feeling bitter about this.

She shoves away the thoughts from her mind and checked her check-up data once more then said, “I’m leaving, see you later.”

The other girl nodded but Takayama didn’t see that because she was already walking to the door. She feels like Shiraishi is watching her every move as she let the tiny box beside the door scanned her eyes and fingers for confirmation, but she didn’t look back at all.

Stepping her shoes into the observation room, she was surprised when she only found Fukagawa there. It’s really rare for their leader to leave the room, the short haired even often found sleeping over at the room instead of going home.

“If you’re looking for Hashimoto-san she left with Ikuta-san a few minutes ago,” the older girl explained.

“Right. I actually don't have anything else to do today, so I’m going home first. If it is okay with you?” she asked while her hands are starting to collect several items from the desk that she need to bring home.

“Sure, go ahead, I’ll let Hashimoto-san know.”

Takayama nodded then stuffed the items in her hand into her dark backpack before taking off her the semi-transparent lab coat. She folded the coat neatly and put it inside one of the drawers of her desk, “bye, Fukagawa-san, thanks for your hard work.”

After hearing a reply from the older girl she grabbed her backpack and left the room.

As soon as she’s out of the huge modern styled building she reached for her phone from her bag side pocket and dialed a contact.

‘Hi! Sorry but right now I’m in the middle of something. You may leave your message after the beeping sound and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’

Takayama sighed upon the recording before replying, “Wakatsuki- this is Takayama. We need to talk, it’s about Naa-chan. Call me soon, okay? I need to meet you it’s important.”

AN:

I wrote this faster than my usual pace, the reason is because I'm taking the IELTS test next Saturday and I'm tired of writing boring essays so I switched to fiction writing XD. On the other hand, I haven't re-read this chapter thoroughly and also the last chapter, to be honest, so I might make several little fixes in the future. (I have done several edits on 31-08)

Also, this is my first science fiction story and since I actually not a master of human bodies so I just wrote based on my research on google. Sorry if you find several things illogical.

For Nanase oshis, I'm sorry that your girl is still not found in this chapter. I actually planned to have Nanasemaru appears in this chapter but there are several things that I need to mention yet couldn't if the main perspective is already focused on Nanase. But a little bit of sneak peek, she will be in the next chapter :cathappy:

replies :

ミサキ : your welcome :) hope you like the chapter 3 as well, come again :lol:

chocolatepandastarlight : I'm not that amazing, I still have a lot to learn but I'm really flattered you said so :wub: Maiyan oshis unite! :deco:

weirdasspotatoe : Thank you so much, I sometimes afraid that my writing is too slow paced that it would bore the readers, I'm happy you like it. Please do reappear again :lol:

C : Yep my intention of writing that is to show how Maiyan is actually sharp towards her surroundings and that Kiwi video is actually inspired by that segment. Maiyan understand how someone should feel because she was once a normal human being, yet she doesn't feel it anymore :cry:. What is happening is similar with paralysis but to her feelings. There's an explanation of that on this chapter and I hope that will suffice. There will be some more explanation to come in later chapters actually.Nanamin doesn't know Maiyan before, of course, there is a reason behind her actions.How do you know that I wanted to make IkuMai sisters skajsakjdkasjdas do you perhaps have psychic ability or something? :lol:This will also contain HashiGawa :deco:, but Nanamin often slept in the observation room instead of their place :angry:Naachan is coming on the next chapter be prepared ;)I think Maiyan- the real Shiraishi Mai is someone who will try to put a tough face on front despite what's happening around her, but she's not that strong(ex: get scared easily), while Nanamin is someone who's always calm. Perhaps the management wants to prove this with those mvs, not that I complain because those two is actually shippable. :heart:ShiraHashi does sound a little strange and white bridge makes me think of a real bridge lol

Nanamin is so emotional despite not knowing Maiyan before, I wonder what’s in it for her with this project?I had a feeling that NanaMai relationship wasn't exactly smooth considering how they fought in the first chapter. Takayama seemed kinda mad at Maiyan too.I’m not sure what to expect with Waka’s appearance. I just hope she’s not the current gf of Naaachan. That would be a mess…and I'll be :frustrated: because I wouldn’t know who to root for then.

Haha nope. It’s just since that Nogibingo sister episode, my brain seemed to put IkuMai as sisters by default. They’re close and clingy with each other, it’s so cute really.Also it feels like this project is made because Ikuta can’t bear to lose her important person but Naachan is the gf, so the next thought is that she’s a family or a really dear friend (which I doubt she would spend that much time/money for regardless how close they were).

*gasp* What?! Nanamin, how can you sleep more at work when you have such a beautiful wife colleague at home :on thumbb: what are you?? :mon headbang: How are you able to resist the Holy Mother? Are you an android as well? :lol:Maybe Maimai can do something about it like giving her bento/snacks when she’s not going home. Better yet, accompany Nanamin there and use every chance she gets to slowly melt her heart XDIf I remember correctly the real Mai said she’s shy, no? I think she tried to be tough because she’s one of the oldest there so she feels the responsibility, members rely on her too and she would feel bad if she couldn’t live up to their expectation of this “perfect” Maiyan. Oh, Maiyan... :mon exhaust:

“Naa-chan, there’s no way I’ll leave you here, you’re coming with me. Kazumin said that she will also need your help anyway,” the girl grabbed her hand in a tight grip and started to drag her toward the huge entrance of the large building.

The truth is Nishino does not want to come, not at all, but of course, Wakatsuki had somehow managed to drag her out of her room with a reason that leaving her alone in the 2 bedroom apartment is no option because the third occupant of the place was also out for the day.

It is not that she does not want to help Takayama Kazumi- who came to their place 2 nights ago and beg her to come visit her office because she needs some help with something that she has yet told her, but rather because of the place where her best friend work is some sort of dreadful reminder of someone.

The truth is Nishino has never entered the building before and she has never thought that she will either. The building is really futuristic yet still, has some natural touch to it. They entered the building from the south gate which has its own lobby that’s really huge and it’s probably 4 to 5 times bigger than their apartment lobby.

Nishino glanced to the floor below her and starting to feel underdressed with her old converse sneakers, dark jeans and checkered long sleeved shirt, but she says nothing as she let Wakatsuki lead her to the front desk.

“Hi! I’m Wakatsuki Yumi, we’re here to meet Takayama Kazumi from research and development division.”

“Sure, let me check for a little bit… I see, Wakatsuki Yumi-sama and Nishino Nanase-sama, isn’t it? Takayama-san is expecting you on the 46th floor. You may take the elevator at the end of the corridor on your right. Before you go, please take this identification and wear it as long as you’re still in the building.” The girl at the front desk said as she hands them 2 cards with the word ‘guest’ written on it, “Oh and also, you will need to use the identification card to be able to use the elevator and you doesn’t need to give it back to us after your visit.”

Wakatsuki nodded grabbed the identification while giving the front desk girl a charming smile as a thank you. Nishino swore she heard the worker squealing in delight once she thinks they are out of listening distance, but Wakatsuki says nothing. Probably the girl has already accustomed towards that kind of reaction.

Both of them say nothing along the way to their destination and the elevator door is opened revealing another lobby that is half the size of the first one, but unlike the first one that was decorated with brown and teal furniture, this one has a monochromatic theme that makes it more futuristic.

“Naa-chan, you’re here!” A voice said and not long after she could see Takayama Kazumi approaching them with fast paced steps before pulling the thin girl into a quick hug, “and you too Wakatsuki, hello!”

Wakatsuki nodded in return, then Takayama leads them to a cozy black sofa of the lobby which is facing a huge glass that shows the view from the building.

“Kazumin, I need to talk to you first,” Wakatsuki said in a low tone, her way to indicates that she wanted to speak more privately. Takayama threw a gaze to Nishino, but the other girl couldn’t quite get the meaning behind her expression.

“It's fine, go ahead, I’ll wait,” Nishino said to the long haired, assuming that she was considering whether it is okay to leave her or not. Both of them nodded then walked to one corner of the lobby and talk about something that she couldn’t hear because of the distance, but she could conclude that whatever it is Wakatsuki doesn’t seem happy about it.

Thankfully, they reached a conclusion after a few minutes and started to walk back to where Nishino is waiting. “Come on Naa-chan, there’s something that I want to show you.”

They were led into one room that consists of several desks and some monitors, but what gained her attention is not the interesting scientific equipment on the table or tons of graph on the screen, it is the occupant of the other room that can be seen via a huge glass in front of her.

Nishino stepped closer to the glass, her eyes sticking to a figure sitting on the observation bed. At that moment the only thing she could think of is her eyes must be deceiving her, perhaps after such a long time all the bad night sleep finally took a toll on her brain.

“But- Maiyan has… died,” she said weakly after finding no explanation about the figure that she’s seeing.

For Nishino, there was no denying Shiraishi death because she was there. The girl had held the other’s hand as it lay limp across her delicate frame and her stone white skin became paler than it used to be, just like her lips which were losing its soft red color.

It’s been more than 2 years since then, but Nishino still remember clearly how cold her beloved’s hand was as she gave it a squeeze for the last time, sometimes she feel like she could still feel the coldness in the empty air.

“Naa-chan, Shiraishi Mai didn’t really die,” Takayama said then she started explaining, she started from how they perform an allocation of her memory to a new host and from that they had begun to work on the project, trying to complete it so Shiraishi could be able to truly live once more.

Throughout the explanation both of guests stay silent, Wakatsuki was fiddling with her phone, once in a while she would avert her gaze to either Takayama or the subject in the other room, while Nishino’s eyes never left the subject not even for one second.

Nishino have a feeling that something is not right, it is not because of somehow her supposed to be dead girlfriend had not actually died, also not because her friend had somehow become a part of team that works on the girl for so long, but rather because of the said girlfriend who is currently talking to two scientists in the room. However, she could not point out what part of the girl is not right.

“I’m sorry for keeping this hidden from you two for so long. I’m really really sorry,” Takayama said while bowing her head, she could feel a little bit of her is feeling less pressure since she already opened the secret that she’s been hiding from her best friends for so long.

“Kazumin, why now? Why telling us about this now?”

Takayama straighten herself then took a few steps closer to her friend, she gulped down her nervousness before saying the truth, “I’m not going to force you to do this, but Shiraishi needs your help to be able to feel once more.”

Takayama does not need to explain it further because Nishino is able to understand perfectly about what she means. Shiraishi that she knew has never been that calm until it looks stiff. Shiraishi that she know is expressive when it comes to telling another people about something in her mind. Shiraishi that she knew does not listen to someone’s explanation with an empty gaze.

She unconsciously took a step behind, her hands starting to trembles and she could feel her vision is getting blurry because of the tears that are going to fall in just a matter of seconds. Part of her brain is yelling at her to rush into the room and shook Shiraishi out of that inhumane behavior whilst another part is telling her that it is merely an android with a form of her beloved.

The worst thing is ever since she has seen Shiraishi she has yet to feel anything but pain.

“Naa-chan, you really don’t have to force yourself to do this. It’s okay if you want to go,” Wakatsuki said realizing that her friend has started to tear up. But much to the other amazement, the slender girl shook her head stubbornly.

“I’ll do it…” She said as she wiped out the remaining tears from her face and try to control her irregular breathing, “what do I need to do?”

For Nishino Nanase, whether she will help Shiraishi or not is not a question. Her answer has been decided long before the question is asked, even though it feels like her heart is slowly being pierced and tears that’s threatening to fall again, yet she still listens carefully to her best friend explanation about things that she needs to know about Shiraishi’s current condition.

“You just have to have a talk with her, you don’t need to worry about whether deep topics will burden her mind because right now what we need is to lure her emotion to come back, so we are willing to take a risk,” Takayama finished her explanation, “and also- just like Waka-chan said don’t force yourself too much okay? You are free to walk out from the room anytime.”

Nishino nodded and looked at the girl that came with her, the girl was still engrossed with her phone- probably chatting on Line, but she could sense her gaze and looked up, “I’ll be here if you need me.”

Part of her actually wanted to ask the girl to accompany her inside, but she realized that she will need a time alone with Shiraishi, not to mention Wakatsuki does not actually keen on the girl. She could not blame her, though, she understands where the dislike came from.

“Naa-chan, you may enter whenever you’re ready,” Takayama said reclining her head to the glass beside her.

The two scientists inside the room with Shiraishi is now talking between themselves while the subject is eating her meal on the bed. Nishino took a deep breath and release it from between her lips, “okay… Kazumin, are you coming with me?”

Takayama nodded and walked to the door at the end of the observation glass, after letting the scan work on her finger she took Nishino’s card and tap it on the scanner, “this is needed whenever you want to enter or leave the place, with this you would not need to wait for someone if you ever want to meet her, so feel free to come anytime you want after this.”

There’s actually another door before they could finally enter the room and when the final door is opened she could see everyone inside the room halted their activity to look at them- well to be precise- her.Both of the scientists look at her in acknowledgment, as if they have expected the visit, both of them introduced themselves politely and of course Nishino introduced herself in return. However, during the whole time Shiraishi had yet say anything, the girl just stares blankly at her food, seemingly lost her appetite.

“We’ll be taking our leave then, see you later,” Hashimoto said with a polite smile and turned to leave along with Fukagawa.

“I’ll be outside if you need me,” Takayama said while giving Nishino’s back a soft pat before turning to follow her coworkers.

After hearing the soft sound of the door sliding, Nishino looked around, wondering whether she should stand a whole time or find something to sit on, but her eyes catch the figure who still has not make even a single move, making her looks more like a robot than it’s supposed to.

“Hi~ I guess…” Nishino managed to say after being unsure of what to do.

“Hi…” the answer was so soft that it almost sounds like she was exhaling the air instead of saying a word, however, she has finally looked up to see Nishino clearly which kind-off caught the other girl off guard since her eyes were exactly the same as how Nishino remember it.

“You should continue to eat your meal, while I’m going to find something to sit on,” Nishino said while throwing her gaze around the room.

“Hmm… you could use that armchair near the TV, but it’s probably quite heavy to be moved around.”

Nanase grabbed the back of the chair that Shiraishi pointed early on and lifted it up a little to move it. It’s quite heavy but not to the point that she wouldn’t be able to move it. Her eyes accidentally look back to the person on the bed who was staring at her, but the girl quickly averted her gaze and started to eat what’s left of her meal.

She positioned the chair next to the bed where she could easily reach the other girl if she ever needs to. She eyed the other girl’s meal for a moment before taking out her phone and started to find some activity to kill both time and slightly awkward tension.

“Nanase, have you eaten your lunch today? I’ll share mine if you haven’t” The girl on the bed said.

“You don’t need to, I already had my lunch. Before I came here, I went to Yoshinoya near the station with Yumi-chan.”

“Ah, I see... So- Wakatsuki. I see…” Shiraishi said incoherently.

“It’s not like that, Yumi-chan is still with Reika-chan anyway,” Nishino quickly refute whatever it is that the other girl thinks about her relationship with her childhood friend.

For a brief moment they look at each other with nobody making any move or attempt to say anything until Shiraishi albeit being late at responding- nodded and goes back to finish the last spoon of her meal. Nishino watches as the other girl carefully closed the container of the meal and pushed the table away from her bed to the opposite side from where Nishino sat.

Shiraishi moved from her position to be able to face the other girl with both of her legs hanging on the bedside, then she clicked one of the several buttons beside the bed and white mattress went down until it stops around the same level with the chair’s height. Then she took each of Nishino’s hand with hers, feeling their warmth started to engulf her less warm artificial ones.

After that Shiraishi basically stares at her for several uncountable minutes, while Nishino who doesn’t know what to do besides to look back as she started to feel uncomfortable on her seat. However, eventually, the one on the bed soften her expression. She started to rub Nanase’s hands with her thumbs, one of her old habits that make the other girl sure that the girl before her is still Shiraishi Mai.

“Nanase, It’s fine if you have someone else. It’s fine to find someone else,” she said.

“What are you talking about? I don’t want someone else. Why are you being like this?” Nishino said her voice raised a little at the end. She had unconsciously retracted her hands that were being held by the other girl.

“You shouldn’t come to see me anymore, stop wasting your time on me.” The girl said without any hesitation. It's as if she's merely stating a fact.

“Why?”

She doesn’t understand. Isn’t Shiraishi supposed to be begging for her help? Isn’t Shiraishi supposed to be grateful because despite what had happened she’s still there for her?

“I think it’s better if we go on separate ways. 2 years is quite a long time don’t you think?”

Nishino was on the verge to start an argument when she realized that doing so just means that they are going to fall back to the same old routine, but this time with the other couldn’t feel anything to realize how wrong her action is. If back then with Shiraishi being a totally normal human she was not able to do anything to change her mind, this time, she realized that it’s more than impossible.

To be honest, Nishino does not want to repeat the same thing again.

Which is why she’s about to give the other girl exactly what she wants.

“Fine then. I really wish that you would start to let me help you, but I guess it’s not happening. I hope you will be able to recover soon. Goodbye.”

~To Be Continued~

AN:Hi! I finally managed to finish this chapter after rewriting it a few times because I wasn't satisfied with how it turns out. I hope this one suffice. Also, I will be going for around a week long vacation and after that, I'll probably going to be quite busy with University stuff which is why I couldn't promise to bring you next chapter next week, but I'll try my best :)And Also the view count has actually gone past 1k whoaaa :shocked Thank you very much :cathappy:

replies:

chocolatepandastarlight: THANK YOU SO MUUUUCHHHH :D

akbcoupleshipper: the wakanana here is platonic but they have a quite deep bond that I'll write in later chapters. Hmm... Asuka will be quite hard to bring since they are young adults (I even add 2 years into Ikuchan's age) and I think Asuka is more of a school girl, but I'll keep her in mind in case I'll need extra character. Thank you for reading :)

pretend_2besome1: Replying to your reply is always fun, thanks a lot for spending your time in this story :) Hmmm.. hmm... about Nanamin, what's with her I wonder? lol, Sorry, I couldn't tell you now but that will be explained eventually.And Waka isn't Naa-chan girlfriend, I even had Naa-chan denying that in this chap. Takayama and Waka are Naa-chan best friends and they are quite protective of her, there are more but I'm keeping it secret for now ;)Now that you mention it, I may have made Nanamin looks a lot like android hahahahaha, but I assure you she's not, she just having a hard time to put her wellbeing first instead of the project.You're probably right about Maiyan, She's always trying to be the perfect senpai for the others, she's also not the kind to share her worries with others. Sometimes I find myself worried for her wellbeing :(

Naachan lives with WakaRei?Ikemen Wakatsuki strikes again! It’s a good thing Reika’s not with them, she’ll be like :mon whine: and then try to get her attention like :mon whimper: :mon innocent: "Wakachuu..." :lol:What did Maiyan do that is so bad that both Zu and Waka didn’t really like her, huh? Also, Maiyan seemed to be jealous of Waka’s relationship with Nana. There must be some story behind it.First NanaMai meeting after Maiyan’s “death” and it went like this? Gah, stubborn people….I imagine they fight a lot because nobody wants to back down.Still, Maiyan you’re hurting Naachan despite maybe your good intention :pleeease:I’m glad Waka isn’t with Nana that way because it seemed that NanaMai relationship is already complicated enough without needing a third party getting in the way. Also, I’ve always liked the close friendship between Reika-Nana-Waka-Zu in Nogi.

You're welcome F, it's fun to read your story as well :)It’s okay if you don’t answer my questions because I know sometimes it would spoil the story and such (I would keep asking though XD)Maiyan probably got more job than most members and members also said she’s got professional attitude so she won’t be slacking around and on Nogichuu Mai said she’s not sleeping well….so yeah, I’m really worried about her too. At the very least I want her to have fun and relax in Nogizaka46 if she can’t get enough rest.

otsukaresama! nanamai meeting after maiyan's death.. ugh... it's too much for me, why maiyan avoided naachan?! :cry: she just want to help you maiyan :(anyway, thank you and keep your work author-san! :twothumbs

If she’s in much better position to choose, Ikuta Erika would rather choose to work in the lab rather than having to take care of a whole division. Her days consists of reading project reports, writing the division reports, watching project logs, and the last but also the worst is the meetings.

Lately, she’s been frequently asked to meet up with the CEO and the other higher ups because of one of the projects that has been completed.

Today is not an exception, however, this time, Hashimoto is by her side.

“No, I’m saying that this is not supposed to be known by the public,” Hashimoto said.

“I’m afraid that’s something we could not do. The news about this project has already reached the government and perhaps it wouldn’t be long until other companies hear about this too. Covering this project will lead to misunderstanding and it could be fatal for this enterprise,” Nagashima Seira the company public relation leader said.

“Have you find out who is it?” Ikuta asked, she’s been looking anywhere but the people in the room.

“Who what?”

“The one that leaks the information. The project supposed to be a secret after all.”

“Is not a secret anymore the moment Hashimoto-san decided to ask help from outsiders.”

“That’s necessary to help the subject improvement,” Hashimoto quickly explained while trying not to voice her hatred towards the PR leader, “besides, I believe that those people is able to keep the information secret.”

“But the thing is there is no improvement on the subject, isn’t it? It’s been more than a month since the project has completed and gone into adjustment and improvement stage yet based on the reports there is no improvement at all. You shouldn’t point fingers on who to blame for the information leaks since it is something that is almost impossible to withhold, instead you should start to think about our preparation whenever the someone from the government decided to pay us a visit.”

Hashimoto nor Ikuta said nothing upon the statements. It’s hard to admit, but the other woman is right.

Seeing the other two freezing without any reaction, Nagashima put two papers on the table for everyone to see. One of them marked with the Ministry of Defense logo while the other has National Police Agency stamp on it. Since the coffee table is not that large and they are sitting face to face, Hashimoto could easily read the letters without having to move from her position.

“The one from the Ministry of Defense came 2 days ago and the National Police one arrived yesterday. Until now we still have not replied to these letters, but as you see both parties are interested on the project and in case you are not aware- these people always got what they want. For now, all we can do is choose the time for them to come and prepare ourselves for their visits.” The company CEO finally speaks up while looking straight to Ikuta who seems to be in a daze looking at the letters.

“Most likely they will want to speak with her and after that discuss the experiment impact to the military force.”

“Isn’t it too early to start considering this kind of project to be used for military purposes? The project is still not completely successful after all.” Ikuta said voicing her doubt.

“Ikuta-san, do you remember what I asked you when you reported the project idea two years ago?”

“You asked me to consider whether we are ready for this kind of solution or not…” Ikuta recalled while looking down, realizing that she didn’t do what the man had told her to. Back then she was blinded with the possibility of bringing Shiraishi back that it became a ‘do it no matter what’.

“I think the most we could hold them from coming here is a month and you also need to keep in mind the possibility of this getting into the public view which might make the situation around the building busier and messier. But the good thing for having not to keep this a secret anymore is that it will be okay for the subject to leave the room. In fact, I think you should consider moving her to another room for the meeting with the officials.”

“I’ll arrange another place for the meeting and also I will consider arranging several place to move her in case something happened. Just for the record, the subject is the research division property and I also have much larger share than anyone for this enterprise, so I would like to be able to be in control for the upcoming meeting and I’m not going to let anyone but Hashimoto team to conduct a test or decide what to do regarding this project.”

The CEO smiled couldn’t help but to feel proud upon the young director decision, “that’s a suitable way to do it. I think that covers everything that we need to discuss this time.”

Ikuta nodded she could hear the short haired young woman letting out soft sigh next to her. Ikuta hoped that she is actually satisfied with the way that she’s choosing.

“Before I leave, there’s something else I need to say to you Ikuta-san, but just the two of us,” The middle aged man said while looking apologetically to the other two women in the room. Hashimoto and Nagashima nodded and stand up to take their leave.

“Hashimoto-san, if you don’t mind please wait for me before going back to the project room, I plan to visit the subject after this,” Ikuta said before the short haired scientist reached the door, the short haired nodded as a reply before she followed Nagashima out from the room.

After the door made a clicking sound signaling that it is now closed Ikuta turn her head to face the other person in the room, the man gives her a sympathetic smile before saying, “there’s a big chance that they would want to get their hands on this project too. I know that you would not want anyone else interfering with this project especially that two other parties, but you understand well that they don’t take the rejection lightly, don’t you?”

“I am aware of that. That’s why I’m requesting to tighten our security, especially around my division. Akimoto-san, I know going against the government will be risky for our company but the subject is still my sister. Please help me to do what we can to prevent them from taking over,” the girl said followed by a half bow to express how much she needs the man to be on her side in the matter.

“I’ll be on your side on this. I believe that this kind of project is still too advanced for humanity, so I would want to keep this to be the only one until the world is actually ready. Not to mention I actually hate the way they force their way into someone else project.”

Ikuta nodded and muttered her thanks to the man, but the guy just smiled reassuringly and put his hand on Ikuta shoulder before saying something that she can’t hear clearly, but she was also not in mood to ask the man to repeat his words.

She exhaled the breath that she’s been holding after the man bid her farewell before exiting the room, calming herself a little before shortly starting to walk to the door.

Outside, Hashimoto was too fixated on her tablet that Ikuta needs to call her name twice to finally get her attention. Both say nothing more as they walked side by side towards the project room. The clock has gone way past 1AM in the morning, in normal companies the workers usually has gone back to their home but the situation is different here, around a quarter of the workers often went home after 2 in the morning and it’s not rare to see several who choose to sleep somewhere in the building.

The 046 observation room was almost empty when they entered it, only one person there and she had actually fallen asleep on the desk. Ikuta pays no attention to the sleeping girl as she walked past her to stand closer to the observation glass.

With the subject sleeping on the observation bed it is quite hard to see her from where Ikuta is standing. However, thanks to the observation cameras that is placed all over the room she could see her clearly from one of the monitor in the room.

Shiraishi was not alone in the room, though, there is someone else with her sitting on a chair next to her bedside. The visitor’s right hand laying on the bed lightly as if she’s afraid that a slight pressure of her hand would wake the sleeping girl up.

After their first meeting after quite a long time- where Shiraishi had basically given a little push to break whatever it is that left of their relationship, Nishino stormed out from the building in silence. On her 4th day of staying as far away as possible from Shiraishi, she had given up. Not only she wasn’t able to work properly without thinking of the other girl condition, she was also on the verge of repeating another thing that she's desperately trying to avoid.

So on the next day, she woke up and went to the huge building for the second time, however, she only stayed in the observation room while silently noted every single move that the girl makes.

It’s ironic when she realized that it’s quite similar to what she used to do many years ago.

Well, thankfully the people who are working on Shiraishi had no problem with her annual daily visit, furthermore, Takayama had even rearranged one table in the corner so it is empty and can be used for Nishino to bring her works there, so she could do her job while watching over the subject. Even though her job is really frustrating and demanding at times, Nishino couldn’t help but feel grateful that it is something that she can do outside her workplace.

Around a week ago, Takayama who had volunteered to accompany her home every single day was having a meeting that went until quite late at night, to the point that it was already gone past the time for Shiraishi to sleep. Seeing this Fukagawa tempted Nishino to go inside the subject room once more, telling the younger girl that Shiraishi wouldn’t wake up anyway. Even though she had her doubts, she actually went inside and it went smoothly just like how the scientist tell her.

Following that night, it became a daily routine for Nishino to goes inside the subject room after the subject has fallen asleep. Nishino realized there are things about the other girl that she has not aware like how Shiraishi has this habit of facing sideways when sleeping. Even though the girl would fall asleep while looking at the ceiling at first, then after a while, she would start moving and goes back to her default sleeping posture. Aside for that being cute, that's also something that makes Shiraishi human, which is a matter that she thinks more than she should.

If only Wakatsuki would let her go home by herself, Nishino would surely spend much longer time inside the room or even to the point of actually staying over in the building, but too bad that’s unlikely to happen.

Nishino rolled her blue cardigan’s sleeve a little so she could check the time on her watch, noticing that it’s the time for her to go she sighed then pull the sleeve to hide the watch again. She leaned forward a little, inspecting the sleeping girl much closer as if she’s going to make a really detailed drawing of her. She contemplates whether she should say something or to touch the sleeping girl once more, but in the end, she gives up and leave the room without actually doing anything beforehand.

Once her foot reached the observation room floor her eyes met with a dark haired girl that she hasn’t seen for quite a long time, she smiled before greeting the girl, “Erika-chan.”

“Long time no see, Naa-chan. Have Takayama-san told you that I’m volunteering to drive you home this time?”

Nishino nodded remembering that her best friend had mentioned the change back when they ate dinner together. She knows the young girl quite well because she was constantly visiting Shiraishi’s huge mansion back when they were still together- long before the accident happened.

She remembers how Ikuta used to cling to Shiraishi, following her everywhere she goes, she even studies while watching her step sister practicing softball. At first, Nishino thought that it was because of how Shiraishi loves to spoil the young girl too much, but by the time she realized that they shared much deeper bond than that.

“Then, shall we go now? Or do you still have something that you want to do?” the younger girl asked her.

“I don’t have anything else to do, but if you want to visit Maiyan before we go, please do. I’ll wait.”

Ikuta expression changed into something that Nishino couldn’t get, but after 2 seconds she shook her head, “I’ll do that later, it’s already late anyway. Let’s go now, okay?”

Nishino frowned a little, but started to gather her things while thinking about the fact that this is the first time she had seen Ikuta around the building, her name is often mentioned in the workers' conversation but she has never heard anything about the young director actually visiting Shiraishi.

Could it be that the Ikuta is avoiding Shiraishi? That’s likely to be true, yet Nishino hoped that it is just her brain reading into things too much.

“I’m done. Are you sure that you don’t want to visit Maiyan?” Nishino asked once more.

“It’s fine, let’s go home. Hashimoto-san, I’m leaving, thanks for your hard work. Also, you should go home Hashimoto-san and Fukagawa-san too... I believe it’s not comfortable to sleep here.” Ikuta said directing her words to the scientist more than to the one who asked her a question.

“See you later, Hashimoto-san. Sorry for being a bother.”

“It’s fine. Don’t hesitate to come again- you too, Ikuta-san,” Hashimoto looks straight to the latter, but she just replied with a serious nod then turned around and left the room.

Hashimoto looked around before made up her mind to approach the sleeping girl, gently shaking the back of her shoulder to wake her,

“Fukagawa-san, I think you should go home.”

“What time is it?” she asked drowsily, “sorry for falling asleep.”

“You don’t need to be sorry, it’s already out of the working hour anyway. If this is a normal company we would have to give you a bonus for staying so late.” Hashimoto chuckled a little.

Fukagawa shook her head, “Hashimoto-san, you’ve been staying over for 3 nights straight. The dark circles around your eyes is saying that you need an actual proper sleep.”

Hashimoto says nothing, but Fukagawa never took her eyes off her.

“I still need to observe the subject, I noticed that whenever she’s sleeping she’s actually showing a little change,” she reasoned when she realized that her roommate wouldn’t let this matter go that easy.

This, of course, is not just a mere reason, Hashimoto had noticed that there’s a slight movement on the subject inhumane stable heart rate and brain activity when she investigated the last night report thoroughly- she also had mentioned this to her coworkers including the one that she’s talking to. For now, they are sticking to an argument where that change happens because at the time the subject is in the dream world.

“But you’re obviously in need of real sleep, not to mention you will get yourself sick from being too tired. You might be strong but you are still human, Hashimoto-san. If you really don’t want to leave the subject alone, I’ll be the one who does it,” Fukagawa states.

She had no idea how long she got into a heated glare battle with the newly awoken girl, she wanted to argue that the older girl needs rest as much as she does but realized by saying so it means she’s acknowledging the truth behind her words. She knows that Fukagawa is right, she’s just having a hard time to admit it because her workaholic side is screaming to prevent her from leaving the place.

“Come on, we’ll get ourselves a proper night sleep then goes back to this building as soon as we are wide awake,” the long haired tempted with the same kind of smile that managed to melt her back when she persuaded her to choose an apartment with a balcony for their living space.

“Fine, both of us will go home for today.”

Again that smile managed to change her decision on something.

~ To Be Continued ~

AN:

I post this in a hurry before going to campus, already did the recheck yeay! I hope it is satisfactory it was quite hard. Anyway I'm baaack and now I'm busier than ever lol, the updates might be slowing down after this I hope you can understand :)This chapter follows several people, I hope it won't be too confusing to follow, I'm still experimenting with my writing style. Also, about Naa-chan's job, we'll get into it further in further chapter/chapters.

Replies

ミサキ: Maiyan have her own reason, sometimes a person love someone too much that it actually hurts the other. Thanks for reading :twothumbs

C: Naa-chan lives with WakaRei because she's an eternal third wheel, JK lol. That Wakatsuki scene wasn't really necessary yet I put it because she's just too askfjsakjklasd.. XDYeah both of them is quite stubborn, and even without not being able to feel Maiyan is still stubborn as heck lol.I'm probably going to make a chapter of Maiyan and Naa-chan past (and also another one for Nanamin to explain her reason) but I'm still confused on where should I put it. Hmm...It's okay to keep asking, I feel flattered that someone find my story interesting enough to ask question :)

I can’t exactly picture Rarin being the serious PR leader :PAs soon as I read government, suddenly I was like “this is gonna get ugly...” :badluck:NanaMai, fight when together but can’t stand not being around each other, tough love :mon exhaust:It must be hard for Ikuchan wanting to see Maiyan but her precious sister has become a project and not exactly Maiyan anymore.Oh Nanamin, you can try but you can’t win with the future-mother-of-your-child Holy Mother.

Eternal third wheel, huh? XD but I do like WakaNaRei. It somehow feels right when you see Naachan between them. I would like to see a single with Naachan center and WakaRei beside her.Of course, Waka is a real ikemen after all.You could include them later as side stories after the fic is finished or maybe add bits of it where it’s gonna fit with the chapter in flashback?

After who knows how long she dwelled inside the room, today, Shiraishi could finally go out. Well, not permanently, they are letting her out to test her skin against the UV or something, but still she believed that it’s an improvement she’s allowed to stand in the middle of a garden inside the Nogizaka building.

The building itself shaped like an O with a huge garden filling the center. In the middle of the colorful beds of flowers and bushes stands a statue of a family with two daughters, the youngest was being carried on her father’s back- she is pointing at the building main entrance, while the oldest is laughing joyfully at something each of her hand is held by the father and the mother. The mother has the same bright smile that matches the other member of her family,

Back to the time when she was still a normal human, Shiraishi had visited the building several times- usually to accompany her father to a company event, but before now she had never spent a time to inspect the high-quality bronze made intently. Moreover, she used to hate it so much because she felt like it was a sad attempt of her father to prove his love to the family.

She sighed- that’s something that she did a lot lately, every time her brain failed to process something that she really wants to feel. She tiptoed up and down several times- feeling the grass touching her barefoot. They had told her to take off her slippers because they need to see how well the skin on her foot could handle earthly surface, she’s also wearing a simple beige dress that’s much lighter than her usual lab outfit. Once, she had asked why she has to wear that kind of modern dress every day and Fukagawa explained that it could help monitor her body condition and it basically shut her mouth from asking for a new type of clothing.

She, of course, was not alone, Takayama and Fukagawa are alongside her and the garden was not empty either, there are several men who sit on the garden’s benches.

It’s just a little but she could somehow differentiate the outside weather from her air-conditioned room, it’s barely there but she’s sure that she could detect the difference.

Or perhaps, that’s just her brain desperately making things up.

Well, both of the scientists has been saying and muttering a lot of things that she couldn’t get ever since they got here and somehow she doesn’t really care to understand so every time they do it she just nodded and give the most likely answer if they give her a question.

“It’s good, your body reacts to UV as it supposed to be. I was afraid that your skin will melt if it’s exposed directly to the sun, but it’s not,” Takayama said excitedly as she scribbles several things on her paper.

“Shiraishi-san, are you okay?” Fukagawa asked realizing that the subject had been staring at the statue for quite a long time.

“It’s fine. I was just lost in thought- of my family.”

“I don’t know much about your family, but I believe that they are a good person just like you,” Fukagawa said, she's actually unsure of what to say but feel like she should lift up the mood that seems to turn blue.

“They are a good person, but I don’t think we were a good family, most of our life was rotating on this building, at some point, I even felt like my family is a curse. Well, thinking about it now, maybe I’m the one who is cursed,” she said then chuckled, she noticed that there’s a 2-second gap between the end of her sentence and the fake laugh.

She doesn’t know when did it start but she had started to think more about how to be more human, to the point of rethinking her words after saying it, then give a more likely outcome of that words. She knows that it doesn’t fool the scientists but it helps to make her look less failed on being a test subject.

“Shiraishi-san, I think you’re not cursed. You probably doesn’t have a lot of people calling out your name to confess their love, but I think most of the people around you cares a lot to the point that it’s okay for them to break their selves for you. It’s probably unfair that I’m saying this to you, but sometimes you need to think about what they feel to be able to realize that,” Takayama blurted out.

The three of them fell into silence, with Shiraishi still not leaving her eyes from the sculpture of the girl in front her.

Takayama sighed, “It doesn’t work, isn’t it? Sorry, I was trying to bait some emotion out of you, I have no idea about your family condition.”

Somehow Shiraishi believed that it wasn’t a mere bait but realizing that it's not worth to be mentioned she just nodded and said, “It’s fine.”

“I think we’re done here, right Takayama-san?” Fukagawa waited for the other confirmation before continuing, “There’s something that you need to do after this. So- for now, we are going back and later you could tell me if you ever wanted to go here again. I can’t promise you anything, but if we got spare time I’ll accompany you.”

The walk from the garden to the research division was not long and Shiraishi tried to observe her surrounding as much as she can, like how the company security is actually quite tight, how most of the worker always looks like they are in a hurry, and how amazing the building interior is. She also noticed Ikuta Erika’s name on the company chart that they passed by, but decided to say nothing upon seeing the name.

Once they have reached the monitoring room they find Hashimoto talking with someone that looks quite familiar to her, yet she doesn’t know who. Both had suddenly fallen into silence once Shiraishi and the two scientists stepped inside the room and Shiraishi could feel that the visitor's eyes were glued to her intently, but thankfully nor Fukagawa or Takayama stop to say anything and just lead her back to the next room which is hers.

“The person who was talking with Hashimoto-san outside, who is she?” Shiraishi asked once the door is closed.

“She’s someone that will help us to work on your emotion, she will come in soon so I don’t really need to tell you more because she’ll tell you eventually,” Takayama explained simply as she relaxed on the sofa.

“I see,” Shiraishi said as she walked to enter the bathroom and wash her feet, which is a bit dirty from garden dirt.

“Shiraishi-san, you should put the slipper in the laundry basket so we could get someone to clean it,” Fukagawa said as she passed the bathroom door, Shiraishi did what she had been told to then wash her face with water before stepping out from the bathroom.

She sits next to Takayama who had already turned on the television and now seems to be immersed in the show, then Fukagawa take a seat on a chair next to the sofa after giving Shiraishi a glass of water, from time to time she would steal a glance to the subject to make sure that she finished the drink.

It wasn’t long before the door slide open and Hashimoto as well as the new person came in, Takayama stand up from the sofa and pull the chair next to the bed next to the sofa and proceed to sit there- letting the other two sit on the sofa, albeit reluctantly she also turned off the television.

“Shiraishi-san, this is Sakurai Reika-san, she’s a psychiatrist that will help us with your problem,” Hashimoto introduced the girl to her, who proceed to shake her hand eagerly with her big smile that kind of compliments her big eyes.

“You’ve probably heard about me before since we went to the same high school. We have never been in the same class together, though, and also-”

“You’re the one with Wakatsuki, isn’t it?” Shiraishi interrupted before the girl could say anything else.

“Yes, did Naa-chan said something?”

“More or less.”

Even without Nishino constant mention of her name it was still impossible for her to not know her, Sakurai was actually quite popular in high school and that’s perhaps because of her relationship with Wakatsuki, they were considered the best couple and some of the girls even said that they are the relationship goals- Nishino was sort of one of that some girls.

“I see... Well now let me tell you several things that I can conclude from the observation regarding your ability to feel. Feelings are really complicated things, it wasn’t just about your neuro system or your brain, but there are also a lot of hormones that plays a part.”

Shiraishi was never one for biological science and it’s probably why it took her quite some time to process Sakurai words, “so you’re saying that the problem is with the hormones?”

“Could be, you see there are three main hormones that mainly works on your feelings and emotions and from the data shows that the three of them are lacking in your body. The real problem is this happens not because your body failed to produce them, instead you’re somehow unconsciously suppressing them from being used,” Sakurai stopped for several seconds before continuing, “however, there’s one time where your body sometimes failed to suppress them and that’s when you’re sleeping.”

“The dream,” Shiraishi muttered.

“Do you get that every night?”

“Not really, but it’s quite often.”

Takayama suddenly stood from her seating position and mumbled something about forgetting things that she should be doing right now and walked out from the room. For a moment they were a bit distracted and ended up watching the android modeler leave.

“Okay, then. Do you remember what happened in your dream?” Sakurai continued.

“Mostly it’s about the accident, sometimes it’s about another thing- umm… Things like my bad relationship with my father or like arguing with Naa-chan.”

“Well, from what I can conclude, one of the reasons this is happening because there’s a part of you that doesn’t want to be able to feel. This is something that’s not good both for yourselves and the people around you. We’re going to try several things to fix this and your cooperation in this is really needed.”

“Okay.”

“Great. First we’re going to try with some drugs that you will need to take, it’s supposed to enhance your hormones- usually, it took around 5 till 8 hours for the effect to appear. Does she have any allergies or anything that she shouldn’t take?” Sakurai looks past Shiraishi, her round eyes are meeting the project leader.

“No. She should be fine, but just in case I’m going to need the data of the drug composition.”

“That won’t be a problem. I think that’s all that I need to tell you, Shiraishi-san. I’ll be visiting you regularly from now on,” her lips curled into a little smile, “I’ll be back with the meds later. Hashimoto-san, care to accompany me outside?”

Hashimoto nodded and followed the psychiatrist to the observation room where they found Takayama and Nishino seated on their own seats each is busy with their own task, she noticed the surface that looked like a white board before she entered the subject room is now a glass- inspecting it further she realized that it’s made from a computerized material that could be changed by command, “what a nice two-way mirror you got here.”

“I’ve worked for this company for around 3 years and some of the stuff here still continues to amaze me,” Hashimoto replied.

“Where’s the nearest pharmacy from here?”

“It’s just a little bit walk from the north gate, I’ll show you the way,” Hashimoto quickly placed several things back on her desk, grabbed her purse, and took off her lab coat; because wearing it outside the building obviously will make her the object of people stares.

Once they are back in the division corridor Sakurai speaks up, “you should have contacted a psychiatrist much sooner than this, Hashimoto-san.”

“We thought it was because of the organs in her body, so we tried to make sure that’s not the problem first before going to the next possible cause.”

“You see, I inspected the data on the time when she shows some change. The hormones that show a significant change are dopamine and serotonin, while the third one could be considered not changing. You see- when human hormones goes that way it means that they are depressed.”

“Something in her past is pressuring her,” Hashimoto realized.

“Most likely. Also, there’s another thing... humans are not robots so they are not supposed to shut they feelings out and if they ever do there’s a chance for them to lose their humanity- which in the extreme case turning them into a sociopath or psychopath.”

Hashimoto was lost in thought over the last word the other girl had said, seeing this Sakurai soften realizing how hard it is to be on the project leader shoes, “we’re going to do our best. We shouldn’t think too much about it yet never close our eyes from the possibility of that to happen.”

“Sakurai-san, it’s about the meeting that I mentioned before. Do you think she’s ready for it?”

“From what I’ve seen she seems to be quite obedient to instruction and could be able to handle herself properly, so it shouldn’t be a problem. The public will have a different opinion on this, but you could actually limit her knowledge of the outside world if it’s not good for her to know.” Sakurai looks up to the cloudy sky, “instead of her, I think this will bother the people around her more, like her sister or Naa-chan. But that’s not actually your problem to handle, so- again you shouldn’t get too worked up about that. ”

“Right.”

AN:Finally did it. I was basically rearranging my plan for the story and it was quite confusing but still need to be done. Well, I'm probably going to make separate chapters for the flashback but I'll put those chapter in an appropriate time for the readers to know. Again, thanks for reading you guys are the best :deco:

Replies:wakaten: I agree with you that Waka is overprotective, but that because she cares a lot about the others :) Believe me sometimes I feel like I'm thinking about my stories more than my studies and the story already gone quite far from what I initially planned it lol. Yeah, uni is really a pain in the butt :banghead:

chocolatepandastarlight: Your welcome, I'm glad I could help you out from the boredom, hope this one can do that too :cathappy:

C: I actually have this weird lists on the story document where I grouped the Nogis that could probably appear in the story and Rarin is on the "good talker, could be a little annoying" list XDGovernment always screams bad news when it comes to a fiction, sometimes in real life tooNaa-chan loves Maiyan very much after all :on speedy:Maimai is the holy mother as well as the future mother of their child :glasses:A single with Naa-chan center and WakaRei beside her will most likely turn as gay as Nogizaka46 could be lol

It’s sad to see how Maiyan tried to be human despite her “living” now.

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okay for them to break their selves for you

Yeah, it feels there’s something more about that bait....must be past related, Naachan maybe? :mon dunno:

WakaRei best couple, huh? They’re probably the gayest :on lol:So I’m kinda surprised that Reika turned to be a psychiatrist and helping Zu with Maiyan condition. Even with that mousou ep to help the picture, still, it’s Reika. I just can’t exactly see her being all serious XDNow I’m curous about WakaNana’s jobs. I'm thinking Naachan's might be some sort of illustrator or designer because she took her work with her when she's visiting Maiyan.

I can see Rarin as a good PR, just not a serious one. Same thing as Reika.

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Maimai is the holy mother as well as the future mother of their child :glasses:

Ohoho...is that gonna happen? :hehehe:

Indeed, I guess it’s like asking for Mukuchi na Lion 2.0 with WakaNanaRei center. But I would really love to see it! :nya: :mon lovelaff:

“Yes?” Hashimoto turned her body to the caller and find a middle-aged nurse approaching her hesitantly, “is there anything wrong?”

“Not really. It’s just about one of your patient- Saito Asuka. The young girl had requested to talk personally with you- well just the two of you. If you have any spare time.”

The resident doctor raised her eyebrows because that is the first time she had heard a patient wanting to talk to her instead of her attending doctor. Perhaps it’s because Saito case has been trusted into her hand- even it is still fully supervised.

“Sure. Actually, I still have around 20 minutes left before making another round. So, if it is okay with you, Iwase-senpai?” Hashimoto looks to the woman beside her for her approval.

“It’s fine, go ahead. I’ll see you later.”

“It’s decided then. I’m fine going there by my own, thanks for giving me the message,” Hashimoto told the nurse and get a polite nod as a reply before the woman left the doctor in training on her own devices.

The walk towards the hospital intensive care unit is not supposed to be long and it seems shorter now because Hashimoto fast paced steps. She glanced at the patient board briefly to confirm her memory about the patient room before nodded to no one in particular and proceed to a room on the end of one of the ward corridor.

Hashimoto knocked three times before entering the room, not even waiting for the answer to let her in because she knows the occupant most likely not going to give an answer.

“You came,” came the voice from the one on the bed, she sounds a bit surprised and also disbelieved.

“Other than cancer that’s spreading to my brain?” she answered with bitter laughter.

Hashimoto wanted to say something about her obviously bad taste of humor but decided against it. She remembers an article about different ways of people coping with the deadly disease, perhaps the young girl is actually the type that trying to make herself stronger by joking about it.

“I believe you’re not calling me here just to tell me that joke.”

“Of course not. I’m just trying to melt the tension because you always seems so tense all the time- being a doctor must be hard, especially for someone so young like you. I mean I believe you’re not much older than me.”

“Saito-san, you’re changing the subject. It’s not like I don’t want to talk to you, but I don’t have much time.”

The 17 years old sighed and look down on the blanket on her lap, “it’s about the thing in my brain. I want you to remove it.”

For a moment Hashimoto blinked a few times, trying to get ahold of her senses as well as process the words that came out from the girl’s mouth. Hashimoto sighed and slide a chair next to the bed to sit since she realized that it’s not going to be a short talk.

“You see, there’s a reason why I and doctor Iwase never bring that up. The procedure will be too risky for you, the chance for it to be successful is actually less than 5%.”

The thing about never bringing that up is actually a lie, she had talked about it with the young girl’s parent before and both of them said no. It’s understandable, though, she would have done the same if she’s in their shoes.

“But what difference would it make?” Saito sighed and look at the ceiling above her as if her vision could go through it and see the blue sky above, “I’m not going to live much longer anyway and I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Well, I think your parents wants you to try to stay a little bit longer, I can’t promise you anything but I’ve seen people who live much longer than what the doctor expects. Doctors are not God, we didn't decide when human dies.”

“And what would I be then? Something is bothering my brain and I’ve read on the internet that soon it would affect me- not just physically but also mentally. This is something that none of you have ever mentioned before, but I’m not going to be upset or put a blame on someone,” she stopped for a moment trying to calm her racing heart, “but you see, I’ve been diagnosed with cancer from around 10 years ago yet I keep going because I enjoy being me. However, this thing inside my head are going to change me in just a matter of time and I don’t want that to happen, I would rather die than living my already pitiful life as someone who is mentally malfunctioned.”

“We don’t know for sure that you’re going to be uh- mentally malfunctioned…”

“But the chance is high, isn’t it? Even for me having some serious mood swing- that’s actually one of the symptoms, isn’t it? I know that, so please just stop hiding the truth. I know that my parents are not to blame and I’m aware that they love me very much but so do I. The surgery is a make it or break it for me, my only solution to prevent myself to turn into someone else. The risk is high but I’d rather die to be myself than someone else that could be nothing but a complete burden.”

That’s the second time the girl had said the ‘I rather die’ statements. Hashimoto starting to think that maybe the girl needs to have a chat with a psychologist instead of her, but then she doubts that even the best of them could change her stubborn demands for a risky brain surgery.

“I already propose the surgery to your parents, but they declined,” Hashimoto said, “this matter is probably something that needs to be discussed with your parents instead of me.”

“But you know how my parents are… They would not listen. Which is why I need you to be on my side, I’ll explain my reason and you are going to recommend the surgery to them once more,” Saito explained her plan looking straight to Hashimoto's eyes- hoping that she would help her.

“Fine.”

The young girl smiled at her- but this time, it is not the sad bitter smile that she had shown throughout their talks but rather a bright genuine one- this time it looks like not only her lips that’s curling into a smile but also her eyes that seems to sparks beautifully to express her gratefulness.

“Thank you.”

If only she knew that was the first and the last ‘thank you’ that she will ever get from the girl perhaps she would stay a little bit longer, that way maybe she could have realized that something was actually wrong and quickly give her an immediate attention. Maybe if she wasn’t so immersed in writing her paper about the probability of moving human consciousness to an artificial body she would have directed her next break to check the girl condition, that way maybe she will find out that her condition is silently heading for the worst.

But she didn't.

And once they finally aware of the girl condition, nothing can be done anymore.

Well, a wise man said that regret only comes afterward and wisest said that only a truly remorseful person will try to avoid making the same mistakes.

Today marks three years after that, yet Hashimoto still remembers that day as if it’s just yesterday. Sometimes she contemplates about her current life and realizes how much that patient has actually shaped her into what she is right now.

Hashimoto sighed then smiled a little before stepping forward to approach the bell grabbing the rope that attach into it and swing it from side to side a few times to ring the bell. Then she stepped inside the building, feeling a little bit lucky that there’s no other visitor besides her. It’s most likely because it is in the middle of the day which is a time that usually is the busiest for everyone, she made a mental note to choose this kind of time in her next shrine visit.

She performed the rituals- bowing twice, clapping twice, silently says a prayer while clasping her hands together in front of her heart- this time, most of them is directed to Saito Asuka. She is hoping that the girl has finally found peace and happiness while feeling sorry for her negligence on inspecting the young girl condition that leads her to not being able to give her the ‘make it or break it’ surgery that girl wanted. She stared blankly at the holy building interior for a moment before doing a closing bow as a finishing for the routines.

Upon passing the shrine gate she grabbed her phone in her pocket which she had put in silence because she believes it will be rude if it rings inside the holy shrine. Turns out there’s a new mail that came just a few minutes ago, she tapped the touch screen several times to navigate the device to show the mail.

From: Fukagawa MaiShiraishi-san still not showing any change even with the medicine dosage increase. The result of how her body digest the pill has come out and it shows that it’s normal. I’ve attach the document in this email. Takayama-san said don’t forget to bring some souvenirs and Sakurai-san asked how long are you going to be in Hokkaido?

Hashimoto free hand unconsciously rubbed her forehead despite of it not being in pain. She contemplated whether to reply to the email right away or later and decide to do the former. Her hands quickly typed the reply which is basically just a simple sentence about her going back to Tokyo in a few hours, she decided that she will check the attachment later when she’s waiting for her plane in the airport.

“Mentally malfunctioned, huh…” she muttered softly, suddenly remember the term that she heard a few years back.

As she took the stairs down towards the main road she wonder what would the young girl said about her subject, is Shiraishi condition right now would be considered mentally malfunctioned as well?

~To Be Continued~

AN:I'm baaack :cathappy: So, this time, it's about Hashimoto past and what made her who she is right now. I'm really really sorry for killing Ashu please don't hate me :bow:Right now I'm already half way into working on the next chapter but because of my studies, it could probably take time. Probably.Anyway, Nogi's 16 single senbatsu announcement is next week and I can't help but to think about it, aaaaaaaaaa I really hope the staff won't pull another Hori kind of push to the third gen :bleed eyes: It's kind of sad whenever I look at where Hori is right now :cry: Anyway Shiraishi Mai for the next center yeaaahhhh :rock:

replies:

@C:

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It’s sad to see how Maiyan tried to be human despite her “living” now.

The story is supposed to be sad after all :twisted:About Takayama's bait, we'll see about that and WakaRei is the best couple because they're the gayest :deco:Regarding WakaNana job we'll see about that ;)

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I can see Rarin as a good PR, just not a serious one. Same thing as Reika.

Now that you mention it some of the nogis are such a troll that it's hard to see them in a serious setting :tama-piss:

About Maimai being the future mother of HashiGawa child hmmmmm.... Can't promise you anything, though :nervousI would love to see every yurilicious Nogis MVs, dear staff please keep em coming :wub:

@wakatenAt first, I did write Reika having a ponkotsu moment, then realized with how serious Hashimoto is it will be weird if she's still letting her join after that. So I'm placing the ponkotsu moment away and maybe will put it in if she ever going to have a scene where she's outside of working place :)And Waka hmm... I can't say whether her job is actually better than Reika or not, perhaps it's better in some ways, I'll explain more in later chapter ;)I feel like I'm putting Maiyan into hell :mon waterworks: I'm so sorry that I'm not actually sorryI want more nanamai too :deco: But, sorry this one is more about Hashimoto, NanaMai have to wait for a bit for the story to roll.

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if that is gonna happen, then Naa-chan will be center between three of them. someone need to be center anyway..

but well, i love that combination too!! :wub: :wub: btw i love Sukima song with WakaNanaRei as front member.. the lyrics also feels so right

Most likely they will pick Naa-chan as the center , but I'm fine if it's Reika or Wakatsuki. esPECIALLY WAKATSUKI (sorry I have to put that on caps :nervous)I have never pay attention to Sukima lyrics, but I agree that it's a good song. hmm I'll surf around for that after this.

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i can't focus other thing if my previous task left unfinished, well for story.. it will always left unfinished!

I'm actually quick to move on, but about multi-chaptered stories I have never managed to finish the long one before. Let's hope I'll be able to finally do it with this :)

I see...no wonder Nanamin is so driven. But Ashu :pleeease:Am I being silly for being excited for any kind of HashiGawa interaction, despite it being trivial like Nanamin reading email from Maimai, or the fact that the sender is Maimai? XD

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Now that you mention it some of the nogis are such a troll that it's hard to see them in a serious setting :tama-piss:

Yeah, but that’s what makes Nogi variety shows so interesting and funny.

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I would love to see every yurilicious Nogis MVs, dear staff please keep em coming :wub:

THIS. Omg, yes, please. :mon determined:

@ wakatenYes, exactly like Sukima with WakaNanaRei on the front. I so want this to happen for real! lol

There are three bothersome things that could happen if you’re suddenly awoken from a loud ringing sound.

First, you fell from your sleeping place.

Second, accidentally pushing away stuff near you.

Third, being so sleepy that you couldn’t find out the source of sound that had successfully disturb your slumber.

Every single of that happened on Nishino and she was sleeping on the desk instead of her comfortable futon. So she had actually fallen out from a chair and after that successfully bumped her head on the desk in her attempt to sit up.

She rubbed her throbbing head making sure that force doesn’t actually change her skull structure as her eyes scanning her surrounding and she realized that the stuff that she had accidentally pushed away is apparently not a normal stationary but rather her HD Cintiq companion drawing tablet that Shiraishi had given her for her 19th birthday present.

She harshly stands up and grabbed her phone that’s ringing, she inspects the name on the screen before hitting the green phone area to answer.

“Okaa-san, what is it?” she spoke, clearly could not hold her irritation.

‘Are you watching the news?’

“I was sleeping, your call wake me up,” Nishino replied- tilting her head to one side so she could use her shoulder to stick the phone close to her ear, her free hands carefully picking up the fallen drawing tablet while her eyes inspect every single inch of it, making sure that it’s still flawless. Well, it bumped a little on one corner. That should not ruin its function, yet she couldn’t help to grumble irritably.

‘-bout it. Nanase are you listening?’

“Sorry, Okaa-san, what was it again? I was still half sleeping,” Nishino didn’t mention what had happened knowing that if her mother knows the woman will blame herself and fuss over it. Even though it is technically her fault but Nishino does not want to trouble her.

‘Turn your TV to afternoon news and take a seat.’

She frowned upon the strange order yet she still obeyed and walked out, she glanced at the clock on the wall once she stepped out from her room, it’s a quarter past twelve. Nishino mentally judged herself from being careless and overslept.

“Afternoon, would you like a lunch?” Wakatsuki voice suddenly came from behind the kitchen counter.

Their apartment was a small but comfortable 2bedroom + 1 bathroom with kitchen and living room that basically mixed in one open space, Wakatsuki and Reika got the main room since there are two of them and she got the other room, which is not small but still cramped because of her art related stuff.

She used to live alone, but a few years ago after what happened to Shiraishi, her worried parents were trying to drag her to her grandmother place in Osaka, thinking that she needs a change of view. However, that is not something that she wanted. Fortunately, Wakatsuki offers to share the apartment with her as well as assuring her parents that she will definitely keep an eye on her. She and Wakatsuki are best friends since they had started to go into preschool and the fact that she came from a good family who lives 4 house away from hers make Nishino parents keen on the girl, so the choice grows into two; move to Osaka or stay in Tokyo but live with Wakatsuki and her girlfriend.

“Maybe later, I’m on the phone with Okaa-san,” Nishino replied after placing her phone away from her mouth for a moment. Wakatsuki nodded and walked to the refrigerator, opening the freezer and took out a container of ice cream.

Nishino was seriously tempted to join the other girl but remembers that her mother still on the line, she sits on one of the cushions of the room chabudai and turn on the television- changing the channel from one to another to find the news program that her mother mentioned.

Wakatsuki sits next to her placing the container on the table and handed one clean spoon to her.

“Thanks. Anyway, Okaa-san I’m with Yumi-chan, do you want to say hi?” Nishino said as she put the phone on speaker.

‘Yumi-chan, thank you for always taking care of Nanase…’

“It’s a pleasure, she’s a great friend after all,” Wakatsuki replied after gulping down a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She looked to Nishino who is watching the news intently, her eyes slanting in a bad way towards the screen.

The headline of the news is capitalized in white bold letters with the words ‘Breaking News!’ on top of it, the sentence said ‘NOGIZAKA LATEST INVENTION. REVIVING COMATOSE PEOPLE?’

The screen shows 2 panels each with different videos, one is what looks like a recorded scene of a press conference which has Ikuta and Hashimoto explaining the happenings to a mass media, and the other is a live situation inside the news studio where apparently they are gathering several people to talk about the topic, including Ikuta as the director of the research division.

“-Course a very breaking progression, since until now we have never found a solution for those in a comatose state. With this there are many people could be awoken and hopefully goes back to living normally,” says one of them which has been identified as a doctor, “which is why I don't understand why would Nogizaka rejects the help that the government is trying to offer them?”

“With all due respects doctor, this project is really complicated and the project leader herself has stated that she do not wish to involve anyone else in this. Because we need to keep everything monitored and having more people would lead us to much deeper trouble and confusion.”

“Ikuta-san, the subject is also a human being. A project with a human as a subject should be fully supervised by the government. How can we be sure that your method is not pushing her human rights aside if you’re keeping everything for yourself? ”

“We do not prevent her from speaking to one of yours to confirm her condition, are we not?” Ikuta said calmly.

“But we can’t be sure because she could not express her emotion, not that she could feel it from the first place. We ca-”

Nishino was surprised because of the television got turned off suddenly, she look at the hand beside her and realized that it was Wakatsuki who had pressed the red power button on the remote.

“That’s not something that we need to hear, we know exactly what is happening and I believe Ikuta-san knows the best for her sister,” She stated- glancing at the phone that still connected with Nishino’s mother, the woman seems to be immersed in the television as well that she forgot to cut the line. Nishino just realized this as well and grabbed the phone.

However, before she could hang up her mother voice came again, ‘Nanase, are you aware of this?’

“She thinks that’s for the best- two years wasn’t a short after all. You don’t need to worry,” thankfully she managed to say that without hesitation albeit the flat tone, “Okaa-san, Is there anything else that you want to say? Because I still have a lot of key-frames to work on.”

That wasn’t a lie, she really has to do those key-frames because someone from the animation production is going to come to collect them in less than 7 hours. She realized that she had fallen asleep while working on it and now it’s piling up and screaming for her hands to finish them.

‘Okay then. Before you hang up. Nanase I love you, just remember that I’m here okay, don’t hesitate if you ever feel like going back home. I’m proud of you, you’re a strong girl, I know that.’

That’s not the first time her mother said that kind of statement, in fact, the woman has said that almost every time before ending a call or a face to face conversation with her. She used to wonder about the meaning behind her words but later finds out that someone probably told her to say that or she probably had read about that somewhere. But for whatever the purpose is- Nishino never felt like its working, not that she consider herself strong from the first place.

“Yeah, talk to you later…” she mumbled before pressing the hang-up symbol stronger than she needs to.

Wakatsuki is staring at her as her serious expression slowly melt into a softer one, “want to dig in the ice cream? Before Reika comes back and eat everything by herself.”

Nishino grabbed the spoon that Wakatsuki had given to her earlier and eat 3 or 4 spoonfuls of the ice cream in a rapid manner. It’s not good, she felt like her brain is freezing and her stomach seems to grumble as if it wants to throw the substance out of her system.

“You can have the rest- I’m going to be in my room, still have lots of work to do,” she stood up while trying not to look like a person who’s holding herself from throwing up.

“Wait a moment, you haven’t eaten lunch. You had also skipped breakfast,” Wakatsuki said, clearly worried about her roommate wellbeing.

“It’s fine. I’ll do that after I finished.”

“No, you need to eat. Now I’m going to prepare your lunch while you go do your work then when I’m finished you need to eat- no buts.”

Sometimes she forgot how Wakatsuki is pushier than her own mother, she wanted to argue but know that it won’t get her anywhere and she couldn’t afford to lose more time to work on her job since she’s already far behind the schedule by now.

“Fine,” Nishino muttered. Wakatsuki could only sigh at her roommate attempt to skip her meal and finished the last drop of ice cream in the container before standing up and goes back to the kitchen.

After inspecting the refrigerator for short while she decided to make a chicken curry, so she took out the chicken meat, sweet potato, carrot, and some other things that she think is appropriate to be put into the dish. She cooks the rice first, before actually getting into the curry.

Around the time she had started to put the chicken into the thick broth the front door is opened.

“Welcome home~,” Wakatsuki said after giving the newly arrived girl a quick glance, the girl smiled as she walked passed the kitchen. She entered her bedroom where she quickly changes her skirt into a short checkered pants and making her way out of the room with the skirt in hand as soon as she’s finished.

Sakurai made a slight grumble when she failed her attempt on throwing her already worn skirt into the laundry bin- basketball style, huffing in irritation as she walks into the laundry room to pick up the skirt and properly put it in the bin.

“Reika, today is Saturday,” she said while trying not to pay her mind to the girlfriend who is now hugging her from behind, which is totally limiting her movement in cooking.

“Right, Saturday, I forgot. Law firm closes on Saturday and Sunday.”

“So does psychiatric clinics.”

“Actually, not all of them, mine opens every day. I’m just choosing not to work on weekends since if I ever do it will totally leave me with no spare time with you,” Sakurai corrected and slowly lean her lips forward so it touches Wakatsuki jawline.

“I’m cooking,” she warned the other girl as she tried to shrug her off.

Wakatsuki sighed and turn off the stove, she stirred the curry once more before turning back to face the girl that she has been in a relationship with since high school. She smiled a little and give her a quick peck on the lips, “I’m sorry.”

For a moment Sakurai seems to be lost in thought, leaving Wakatsuki free to start preparing the curry to be served, then out of nowhere she squealed really hard and basically tackle-hug Wakatsuki who almost lost her balance because of the girl antiques, she had also almost dropped the plate that she is holding, “Seriously Reika, can you please see what I’m trying to do here.”

“Sowwy,” she said while widening her round eyes and made a slight pout with her lips.

“Just how old are you? Geez,” Wakatsuki complained as she grabbed the empty plate that Sakurai is holding in fill it with the dish, “go get Naa-chan.”

“Does she know? About the news? Do you know?” Sakurai asked, a little bit hesitant to leave her girlfriend side.

“Kind of impossible not to, it’s quite big you know.”

Sakurai nodded she was lost in thought for a moment before shaking her head right and left as if it could actually get those thoughts away from her mind, then she pranced to Nishino’s room.

From where Wakatsuki is seating she couldn’t see the other two but she could hear them talking, well at least she could hear Sakurai voice since that girlfriend of hers is actually pretty loud in contrast to her childhood friend.

“-you don’t need to worry, she’s completely fine. She doesn’t even know that people are talking about her in the news,” Sakurai said as she dragged the tired looking Nishino to where Wakatsuki is, both of them take their seat on the 2 other empty stool of the counter and started eating.

Nishino nodded while eyeing her lunch, trying to gain her appetite back. Knowing that it's really hard she resort to basically shoved the food inside her mouth and tried to gulp it down as fast as possible, “Are you going back to Nogizaka after this?”

Sakurai finished the food in her mouth before letting out her reply, “Maybe after dinner, there’s not much to do since there is no progress at all. Not to mention, Shiraishi-san has her schedule full today, someone from government decided to pay a visit.”

“Again?”

“Yep, again,” Sakurai sighed before going back to eat.

Nishino pull her attention back to the food in front of her, she had glanced briefly at Wakatsuki who sits on her other side and found that she’s is staring at Sakurai while eating her food, but Sakurai doesn’t seem to notice at all.

“Naa-chan, I don’t think you should force yourself to join Reika today. Shiraishi is going to be okay, they would never leave her alone with the visitor so you don’t need to worry. Besides, they will give you a call in case something happens,” Wakatsuki tried to persuade Nishino knowing what’s on the other girl mind at the moment.

Nishino thinks about her options, whether she will go out or not she still needs to finish the key-frames in several hours, which is a little bit impossible since there are still around a dozen left and if she couldn’t get a miracle for her to be able to work faster than usual she’ll need to ask for more time. But even if a miracle happens it wouldn’t guarantee that she will actually manage to finish it with an acceptable quality.

It seems like after quite a long time today is the day where she will totally tick off the production staff.

In the other hand, she’s having a hard time to concentrate because of her mind is keep going to Shiraishi, enough a reason for her to go out and check it by herself. But by doing so she’s preventing herself from a proper night rest which is something that she should have pay attention to.

She was getting lost in thought and before she realized it she feels like the food inside her mouth is turning bland and harder to swallow. All of the sudden she feel her stomach churning, she immediately jumps from the stool and runs to the bathroom while covering her mouth with her left hand.

Then she did it, ducking her head into the toilet bowl as she retched and her stomach started to throw out what it seems to be every single bit of food inside. She doesn’t even notice that she forgot to turn on the lights when Sakurai barged in and turn the lights on.

Stress and anxiety.

Nishino tried to get the two words out of her mind as she presses the flush button as hard as she can, as if by cleaning the bowl she could also clean herself from her problems. But of course, she can’t. Her mother was wrong, she is not a strong person and was never one in the first place.

~To Be Continued~

AN:Okay so this is Nishino centric chapter, and also a little bit WakaRei as an ice-breaker. I hope you'll like it. :deco:In the other hand. NANAMIN CENTER OMG ASJSAKJDSADSA, I'm so happy I was basically preventing myself from sleeping to watch it straight away lol. Congrats Nanamin, perhaps if I got time and inspiration I will make a one shot of Nanamin (HashiGawa perhaps) hmmm... I really love the new senbatsu, Nishino and Shiraishi on Nanamin sides which somehow makes me think that it's a great chance for them to make Nanamin the thirdwheel center lol also Ikuchan and Kazumiin front. Ringo and Miona is also in the juu-ichi(?) fukujin. I really hope the new single is going to live up to my already sky-rocketed high expectation :nervous

Replies:

chocolatepandastarlight: Your welcome :welcome hope this one is up to your liking :)

C: I'm sorry about Ashu. :kneelbow: And I understand what do you feel about HashiGawa aaarghh I need moar of them, lol despite the shipping reason Maimai was the most suitable one to send the email since she's the one closer to Nanamin and understand more about the biological organs (Takayama is supposed to be more of a modeller in the project) :farofflook:Yep I agree that Nogi varieties are funny, I just can't seem to get enough of them :D

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Yes, exactly like Sukima with WakaNanaRei on the front. I so want this to happen for real! lol

Let's hope they got something like that for the 16th single :tama-laff:

ミサキ: Again I'm really sorry about Ashu death :bow:About the new senbatsu well I have kind of expected them to put either maiyan, nanase or nanamin as center and made the other two on the side because from what I've seen in kidzuitara kataomoi and inochi wa utsukushii the three made a good trio and their different personality just completes each other. And I've read the thing about Nanamin selling the most at the last handshake event and I feel like it's her time to be the center. But what's surprising is the formation, which is similar with Harujion and this make people speculates about Nanamin graduation. It will be sad if it's true, but for now I will choose to not think much about it so I could be more excited for the upcoming single. :hee:

wakaten: I hope this update is soon enough, I was typing replies when yours came XDOf course a Nanamin special just in time before she became a center :cow:It's hard not to fall into her charm(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/202617988/sadsa.png)*how to be the window* lol

yes yesss. this is fast enough and not to mention... this is soooo superbbbb!!!! i love this chapter more, well because there is WakaNanaRei moments.. :gmon heartu:

so, Waka is a lawyer which i never imagine she would be and of course that is as great as Reika.. (Now i can't get rid of her so sexy, professional with suits as a lawyer... that is just so Majime Wakatsuki!) :mon lovelaff:

Naachan is a cartoonist? it suits her so much! :tama-yeeaah:

poor Maiyan.. she even become the headline and not even knowing that.. hoping that nanamin will doing her best with that.. and Ikuchan! what happen between her and Maiyan? Did they have any problem before? hope not so... :fainted:

again! i love this chapter.. but what is wrong with Naa-chan? food poisoning? or what??

i'm excited that i commenting right away.. :wigglypanda:thanks for amazing update! keep it up author-san!

hello.. this is my first time to comment your fic (sorry for being silent reader) :) :peace: but your fic really made my day happily :cow: thanks for update author-san and please keep update.. and thank you for wakarei moment :twothumbs

“There’s no change, isn’t it?” Shiraishi asked as Hashimoto inspected the chart on her tablet screen. Hashimoto shook her head and inspected her, before suddenly pinching one point of the subject bare arm.

“Still not hurt, not at all,” the subject said as she inspected how her skin has gotten a little bit redder because of the short haired action.

Hashimoto turned to look at the psychiatrist beside her, “are you sure we couldn’t increase the dosage a little bit more?”

“Even now it’s already quite dangerous, I’m only letting her taking that because she’s under full observation. If you're forcing her to increase the intake her organ could stop functioning.” The long haired explained, today she had her hair tied up into a ponytail and adding the white shirt to her looks has successfully turn her looks similar to the scientists of the company.

“We will find another way then,” Hashimoto said, forcing herself to smile a little, she gives them a polite nod before stepping back and turns to leave the room.

As soon as she reached the observation room her eyes meet a slender figure who is staring blankly at the room that she had just left.

“Nishino-san…” She called, not expecting the girl to be there.

Nishino didn’t come for several days, to the point where Hashimoto thought that maybe the girl had given up and tried to move on from Shiraishi. Well, turns out she is not, however, after not seeing her for a while, she realized that Nishino had changed a little bit, she looks tired and somehow thinner than before.

“Hashimoto-san- thank you for always taking care of Maiyan.”

“I’m merely doing my job, did something happened? I haven’t seen you for quite a while,” she said couldn’t help but to breach the topic.

“I was feeling under the weather, but now I feel a lot better.”

“I see, well it’s good that you didn’t force yourself.”

Nishino only gives her a weak smile as a reply before averting her gaze back to Shiraishi who is talking with Sakurai. Hashimoto takes her place beside her and joins her to watch the current situation in the subject room.

“I heard from Fukagawa-san you said your dream has become more.. hmmm.. out of control? ” the psychiatrist asked.

“You could say it like that. Before, it’s usually just a recount of what had happened, but lately, it’s starting to evolve into something else. Like suddenly heading to an event that definitely doesn’t happen.”

“Could you elaborate more?”

“There was this one part where I was hanging out with someone and suddenly the person runs from me, saying that I am not me anymore. I think my imagination has totally gone out of control and ruin the dream.”

“Is that what you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think people are running away from you because of your disability?”

Shiraishi fell into silence, racking her brain to find the answer. Ever since she was awoken Nishino is the only person who close to her that has ever meet her. Is ironic since Nishino actually has no family ties with her, unlike her father or her step-sister.

“They… should be.”

Sakurai made a slight hum her eyes never leaving the girl in front of her, she had her legs folded while seating on the sofa, her body doesn’t face forward either, instead she is facing the girl who seems to be in a deep thought upon her own answer.

“Why?”

“Well just like what you said before, this matter concerning my disability,” Shiraishi answered.

“I mean, why do you think they should be running away because of your condition?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I’m kind of a lost case and they have their life too. It’s better for them to keep going their own way rather than wasting their life on someone like me. To tell the truth, I still don’t understand the reason they choose me for this project, I believe I’ve already done quite some damage before.”

Sakurai raised her eyebrows, “Really? What did you do?”

“It’s basically my problem with my father who wants me to succeed this company after him and because of that everything happened. I don’t know whether I’m right or wrong because no one has ever told me this before but if I count several factors probably the reason I’m here right now is because of him.”

Sakurai smiled bitterly, she had asked around about Shiraishi and read every document they have given to her concerning the other girl to know the truth very well, “if it's true, does that mean that people care about you?”

“Him? I don’t think he ever genuinely does, more likely this happened because he cares about this company. Like ‘I shall revive my daughter and she shall be grateful enough to succeed me’,” she answered with a well-done man imitation at the end.

“How about other people? Let’s say- um… your sister Erika or Naa-chan. Naa-chan even paid you a visit, don’t you think she genuinely cares about you?”

“About Erika I basically ruined her dreams so we were not in speaking term, so it’s quite understandable if she chose to remain so which also makes it possible that she’s also not included on the list of people who cares,” Shiraishi exhaled before continuing, “and when it comes to Nanase, I don’t deserve her.”

Sakurai tried her best to prevent turning her face to look at the huge mirror that connects the room with where the girl that was mentioned is right now.

“Nanase has gone through so much because of me. She didn’t say anything but I can see it from how she looks at me and how Takayama-san sometimes snapped whenever the topic is the part of my life that concerns Nanase,” Shiraishi continued when she didn’t hear any response from Sakurai.

“So, is that the reason for you to push her away?”

“I think since I got the second chance of living she deserves a second chance to find someone who is more suitable for her. Especially when I look at how poorly I’m progressing right now.”

Sakurai glanced at the watch on her wrist, realizing that she had taken much more time than she supposed to, “Okay the last question before you’re going to bed. Shiraishi-san, if we allow you make one request to meet someone or go out to a specific place, who or where would that be?”

Shiraishi took her time on thinking, she considers everything from her own needs to why the person could probably have an important matter to talk with her, but no one came to her mind, just like when she moved on to places, she thinks about all the place that important to her from her decent loft near a University where Nishino used to study, from her big bedroom in her family house to some of her favorite cafes. But suddenly another thing appeared on her mind, something that requires her to be outdoor yet doesn’t actually meeting people, “I’m fine with anywhere, but I really want to swing a softball bat once more.”

The young psychiatrist eyed her for a while, probably was quite shocked with how different the answer from the expectation in her mind.

“Actually if it’s only that kind of thing, I’m going to discuss it with Hashimoto-san. She’d probably let you do that in the company garden at least. It could also be an outlet for your repressed emotion. I think that’s quite a good idea,” Sakurai smiled and take a look at the document in her hand once more to make sure that she has done everything on the list, “it’s done, now time for you to go to sleep. Good night, Shiraishi-san.”

“Good night, Sakurai-san, see you tomorrow.”

Sakurai stood up and take her leave, she walked a little bit faster than she normally does because she just can’t wait to discuss Shiraishi’s idea with Hashimoto. However, when she finally reached the observation room she noticed Nishino, the younger girl is not looking at her but rather to the paper on the desk, her right hand skillfully moves the drawing pen on the paper to produce something that Sakurai couldn’t see from the distance.

Sakurai was making her way to where Nishino is when suddenly a voice called her, “Sakurai-san, can we have a moment?”

Hashimoto voiced not only put Sakurai into a halt but also Nishino, she looked up and observe as her friend walking away from her to follow the project leader outside. Nishino frowned upon the unusual acts.

Are they going to talk about something that's confidential for her to hear? Or is there something going on that require Sakurai to go out and see it by herself?

She glanced at the clock that has moved passed the number eleven, she tried not to think about what is it that could be so important in the middle of the night.

Nishino sighed and observed the activity in the room in front of her. Shiraishi had gone to bed and seems already sleeping comfortably. The visitor stands up and checked one of the monitors in the room to make sure that Shiraishi is already in the deep sleep before entering the room to see her closer.

Her mind took her back to the time where everything is different, back to the time where Shiraishi seems to be always having trouble sleeping she used to call her- in the middle of the night. Back then, Shiraishi will start the conversation with a simple question to check whether she’s sleeping or not. Well, that was quite foolish, since of course even though she was having a really good night sleep the call had wake her up.

Back then she didn’t mind, in fact, she will be quite upset if Shiraishi forgot her daily late night call- not to the point where she will actually yell at the older girl but enough to give the girl a silent treatment throughout the day.

That memory had somehow put a little smile back to her face as she inspected the sleeping girl.

“Why do you always so unfair to yourself…” Nishino mumbled.

Even without her doing anything in the room, the time she had spent near Shiraishi always seems short. Today is no exception. Nishino tried to smile a little before moving her feet away from the bed, silently making a promise to come back tomorrow.

She was only a few steps away from the bed when she heard a rustling followed by a bump a second later.

When Nishino turned her vision back to the bed, it’s already empty. Her eyes catch Shiraishi who is now crouching on the floor.

For a moment, their eyes meet, one have her eyes widening in disbelieves while the other clearly has worried plastered on her face.

The one dressed in a white sleeping dress is the first one who looks away, as she started to cry out in pain. She was shaking as she buried her face between her knees as both of her hands squeeze her head.

The machine started to beep in rapid manners, clearly trying to tell that something is not right.

“Maiyan…” Nishino weakly called as she rushed to her side, she put her hands in each of Shiraishi's shoulder but the other girl doesn’t even move from her position, “Mai, what’s wrong?”

She doesn’t get any coherent answer as the other girl seems to be trying to curled her body into a ball in order to relieve the pain.

Nishino doesn’t know what’s gotten into her mind when she decided to push her body forward and hug the other girl.

Shiraishi was hyperventilating and her skin was cold. It reminds Nishino of the time when Shiraishi’s heart was not beating.

When she was still hugging Shiraishi she was hoping for someone to come as soon as possible as every second feels like an hour worth of time, but when they finally come approaching while running, separating her hold of the other girl, she realized that it only took them a less than a minute to come.

Fukagawa, Hashimoto, and Takayama pried Shiraishi from her ball like pose as one of them quickly injecting something into her arm. In just a few seconds Shiraishi has starting to lose her consciousness and her breathing slowly make their way back to the regular pattern. Fukagawa clicked the button near the bed as the bed surface started to go down slowly, when it’s low enough Takayama gently pull Shiraishi up back to the bed.

Nishino could only watch from a safe distance as the scientist started to check everything.

“Back then she was clearly feeling pain,” Hashimoto announced as she wiped a strand stray hair away from Shiraishi’s face.

“That means that the meds are working, but seems like everything was too much for her to handle,” Sakurai inspected, “you should put her into a stable condition for at least 2 or 3 hours, she needs to be put under intensive observation too. There’s a chance she could wake up and feel the pain again.”

“Yes it is, but still it’s not good with her condition like this, once the effect wears off she could start experiencing the same thing again. That was putting too much strain on her brain activity, a little bit more she would start having a seizure or a stroke,” Fukagawa chimed in.

As if on cue, the scientists plus Sakurai realized that Nishino was also there and each of their eyes moved into the visitor.

“Nishino-san, what happened?”

~To Be Continued~

AN:Hi! I was actually confused on where I should end this chap, but this one seems much better than the other option. Regarding Nanamin *cries* graduation I'll rant about it a little after the replies.

Replies:

wakaten:Aww I'm glad you like the last chapter :) Hope this one will suffice tooAbout Waka being a lawyer maybe one of the reason is because she looks totally good in suit and also she's really serious which makes it suitable, I was thinking of making her a designer, but Naa-chan already meddling in section, so to make more variation (and my Waka-sama wearing suit fantasy) I chose to make her a lawyer :DTo be exact Naa-chan is a key-animator. Bemars drama op where Naa-chan draws comic panels inspires me to choose that job for Naa-chan ;) And she was having anxiety attack it was quite worse to the point of her puking, we'll definitely get into Naa-chan problem too later...About Iku-chan and Maiyan that's more to come about them as well ;)I'll do my best on continuing :cow:

ミサキ:Naa-chan and Maiyan problem will be solved it just going to take some time, because it's quite complicated :nervousthat's the last single for Nanamin :bleed eyes:

wakasama__ :

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hello.. this is my first time to comment your fic (sorry for being silent reader)

There's always a first time for everything, right? Well, I hope you will continue commenting because I love reading them ;) Your welcome, I'll try to get more Wakarei moment inside this.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/202617988/adsdjasdklj.png)okay now let's talk about Nanamin

Back when I first getting more into Nogizaka, I have this wish to attend their HS event and Nanamin will also be one of the girls that I would prioritize, seems like it's going to just be an unfulfilled wish :err:

Nanamin is actually my second favorite in Nogizaka. The way she views life has affected me greatly and maybe because she's also the eldest daughter of the family which is similar to me- she's the one I can relate to the most (even more than Mai to be honest).

When the 3rd gen was announced I did make a joke about how the nogis is 47members and they probably ought to grad someone to make it 46, looking at how the 1st gen still have the greater number than 2nd and 3rd combined I said that most likely it's going to be 1st gen member.

I talked to my friend who's also into nogi about this and we actually think about who will most likely go and I joked about how it's probably Nanamin because of her wife(Maimai) has graduated.

I never thought that it'll come this soon.

But when I see it now, I can't help but let her, Nanamin health is always a problem and I don't want to see her suffer. This is what Nanamin think is the best for her and I trust her.

About the Sayonara No Imi MV. It's simply beautiful, it went completely different way than how I expected but in a good way. My only problem with it is how Maiyan doesn't actually have more screen time for a front member.

Nevertheless, it carries a beautiful meaning and appropriate send off for someone like Nanamin.

So what I will do now is cherish the time left to see her as Nogizaka members and keep supporting her until the day arrives.

I will probably make a fanfiction based on the MV, but IDK when I'm going to be strong enough for that. But if I do, do you think I should separate my one-shot with this or just post it in this thread?

You’ve been updating fast or I’m just slow at catching up because I’ve been busy.Asdkaflwekfjwl chap 7 is basically a WakaNanaRei chapter. Started with WakaNana, WakaRei, then end with NanaRei, I love! :mon lovelaff: LOLBut WakaRei really do take good care of Naachan, huh? It’s almost like she’s their daughter in a way.I’m not surprised at all Waka is a lawyer, if anything it fits her seriousness.Aww, you can’t just give the other NanaMai pic like that and not make me want to ship them when this fic is about NanaMai. And yeah, lucky window XD

I feel for Naachan, she’s stuck regarding Maiyan. Her health starting to get poor too (Naachan please take care of yourself!).Oh, is Maiyan’s dream is her subconscious thoughts? That people are leaving her? So that’s some kind of feels she has but not capable of feeling at the same time. Everything is so complicated, even the situation with IkuMai. :mon cute: No, Maiyan… I hope you'll get better for everyone's sake including herself.

Also Hashimoto Papa is following after the Holy Mother :pleeease:While I’m not actually as surprised seeing she’s one of the older members and her health problem. She may not be my fav but her presence in Nogi is someting else, my kokoro :mon cry: :fainted:The PV is beautiful, I’m just sad some members almost don’t get a screen time at all. The things I’m excited about is that Kazumin is finally on Naachan’s side! That and Waka position although she has to leave Reika behind, sigh.Maiyan beauty is so unreal in that PV. Just when I thought she can't get any prettier, she proved me wrong. That goddess... :farofflook:I think you should separate your one-shot so it will be easier to search and not disturb this multi-chapter order.

you're fast author-san. thank you for updating :twothumbsAaa~~~ poor maiyan.. so what will happen with her? :cry: I need more nanamai moments (wakarei moments too) :wub: this chapter showing reika seriousness in her job (idk how imagine this. in my mind reika is fail chara. but I like it) :lol:waiting for next update :)

hmm... i don't wanna talk about nanamin's graduation. it make me pain :cry: actually i'm not surprised when she announced her graduation, but i can't hold myself! I was still sad :cry: I can't imagine if it'll happen to wakarei :(

thanks for the update author san!! it was a good chapter..But all i want to comment is about Nanamin graduation!it was HELL sad. i can't accept it anymore..... the song itself is so heartbreaking.

i AGREED with you! i got the same idea when 3rd generation coming, they have 47 member.. maybe someone would graduate and because management knows that, so that is why they make it total 47 members!

it is not fair, i want more Nanamin.... well her graduation announcement is shocking but her decision to retire completely from showbiz is more shocking.. we can't her on tv anymore.. probably hoping that members would spent their time together with Nanamin and upload their picture together..but still is not as often as we would see her on screen.

i'm still crying right now..... btw, the songs of Sayonaro no Imi has become my separation song with one of my friend from Japan. he is doing his internship here (he is from HOKKAIDO too). but the most shocking things is he didn't listen to song. so i always sent him tones of Nogi and akb song to him.. now he in love with Nogi girls.. i'm proud of myself.. (AND WHY I'M RANTING ABOUT IT HERE?? wonder whyyyy... :? :? :? :? )

In Shiraishi’s life she had gotten slapped by people many times, but a few seconds ago is the first time she had ever gotten an actual fist to her face- by an underclassman no less.

Of course it hurts- both physically and mentally. However, the numb sensation that comes afterward is more discomforting. She touched the side of her lips that had also taken a damage and find that it’s swollen and bleeding.

“So, what’s this all about?” She asked while frowning, stealing a quick look to the underclassman who is still looking at her with eyes full of hatred.

To tell the truth she doesn’t even know the other girl well, apart from the rumor that she’s dating the student council president and her being a brilliant student whose name never seems to be absent from the announcement board because she unbelievably wins a trophy in every week or two.

She even thought that the girl had wanted to talk to her privately to confess her love or something similar, but seems like she was completely wrong.

“Senpai, I don’t want to meddle with your business, but stay away from Nanase,” the girl warned her.

“Aaah, I see. Umm… Well- Nagatsuki-chan, right?”

“It’s Wakatsuki,” the underclassman corrected irritably.

Shiraishi nod in an apologizing manner before continuing, “well Wakatsuki-chan, you don’t need to worry because I find Nanase-chan too hmmm… what should I say? Goody-two-shoes? Basically, I prefer more wild and adventurous girls.”

For a moment she was kind of afraid that she choose the wrong words that would tempt the first year to attack her once more, but to her surprise, the other girl turned her face away while her fist clenching even tighter.

“Like what I said before- I don’t care. Just so you know, senpai, I really hope that is the first and the last time for my fist to hit your pretty face, but if I ever see you trying to make a move on Nanase again I swear the next time is going to-”

“Yumi-chan, what are you doing?” suddenly a voice cut Wakatsuki as another girl came into her field of view.

Holding her sketchbook in front of her chest while her dark hair fluttered because of the wind, the girl unexpectedly shields Shiraishi who is still crouching on the ground. It's as if she’s trying to hide the hurting girl from the vision of the one that had attacked her.

“She’s a player, Naa-chan. She asked you to go out with her because of some sick bet she made with her sick friends,” Wakatsuki exclaimed with a tone full of hatred and disgust.

For a moment, Nishino who had pulled out a handkerchief from her skirt pocket freeze. Shiraishi looked away, totally not expecting Wakatsuki to blatantly say the truth right away.

At that time the only thing that Shiraishi wanted to do is to run away, but she knows well by doing so her reputation will be tarnished, not to mention the possibility for Wakatsuki to blab her mouth around about this.

“You still shouldn’t have done this, Yumi-chan. This could get both of you in trouble,” Nishino sighed.

She had expected Nishino to turn and walk away but she doesn’t. In fact, the girl started to walk closer to her who has changed her position from crouching to sitting on the ground.

Shiraishi closes her eyes, thinking that maybe the girl chooses to give her a well-deserved slap or even worse another punch, maybe she and her friends are fists instead of slap kind of person. However, instead of feeling a hit on her face she could feel the other girl’s fingers carefully grazing the area around her cheek and a second later she feels a soft and comforting material. Hesitantly Shiraishi opens her eyes and found Nishino lightly dabbed the handkerchief to the bleeding skin.

“But-”

“You’ve told me everything, I understand- I’ll be careful when it comes to accepting an offer from someone that I don’t know well. Now, I’ll take care of Shiraishi senpai while you better go first because staying here could actually get you in a trouble, also Reika-chan is searching for you,” the girl interrupted her friend complain.

“Just remember what I said, Naa-chan.”

“Sure,” Nishino consented, averting her gaze to look at Wakatsuki.

For a moment the two seems to be having a staring contest before at last Wakatsuki turn away, her foot stomped the ground harshly as she walked away but not before giving Shiraishi a sharp look that seems to be able to throw imaginary daggers.

“You don’t have to,”Shiraishi said as she locked eyes with the one treating her,”I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine Senpai, you’ve got your lesson anyway,” Nishino chuckled bitterly, “Seems like Yumi-chan was still holding back, you would probably have a broken nose and maybe lose a tooth if she didn’t. She has been doing karate since she was in elementary school.”

Shiraishi stays silent, a part of her praised Wakatsuki for the pretty decent self-control while the others trying to come up with a story in case if someone asks about the bruise on her face. She looked at Nishino who is immersed on cleaning the blood from her face, Shiraishi clearly has no idea why would the girl still here to help her despite what had happened. She doubts even her closest friend would actually pay her mind to help cleaning the blood from her face. She remembered the last time she slipped and accidentally hurt herself the so-called friends were even laughing at her for the moment of clumsiness.

At that moment she realized that Nishino Nanase was unlike any other girl that she had ever fooled around with.

Shiraishi blinked a few times as the light started to blind her vision, but slowly her eyes adjust themselves to the situation as she started became more aware of her surroundings. She wasn’t actually in the back of her high school nor was she feel any pain because of Wakatsuki punch. She is on the bed, had just waking up from the bittersweet dream.

She started to remember what happened before she went to the bed. She was feeling pain, not the same kind of pain with when Wakatsuki had punched her a few years back but that was more. That felt like her brain and heart are being suffocated and that was really painful, furthermore, that lured a lot of bad memories back to her mind.

Shiraishi realized that she has a thin rubber tube distributing the oxygen straight to her nose and a lot of other things is connected to her body. However, somehow the pain that attacked her before has completely gone.

It seems like she is back to her dysfunctional self.

Shiraishi sighed then turning her head to her right side where her eyes catch a figure sitting on the visitor chair beside her bed. The person has her head laying on the bed while using her right arm as a pillow, from her regular breathing Shiraishi can tell that the person is sleeping. Despite the fact that person is facing her, she couldn’t really see the other face because of the stray hair that covers it, yet she doesn’t need that to be able to tell that the person is Nishino Nanase.

She wonders why was Nishino present back to the time when she was helplessly in pain. She’s pretty sure that was already late at night and obviously not a proper visiting time anymore. Furthermore, she and Nishino is supposed to be over.

Shiraishi lightly tried to move her fingers as if making sure that it could still respond correctly to her brain commands which it does. Silently she inspects the sleeping figure, her right hand slowly moves closer until it nearly touched the sleeping girl hair. She wanted to wipe the stray hair away from the other face but decided against it because she thinks that it could probably wake Nishino up.

She heard soft footsteps, then from the corner of her vision Fukagawa came, the older girl lips curled into a soft smile as she approaches the bed, taking the opposite side from where Nishino is.

“Hi,” she said softly before continuing, “how are you feeling?”

“Not good, I guess. Well, I think I’m back to the old emotionally repressed me. You should try to pinch me” Shiraishi replied in the same low volume with the one that had just spoken.

Fukagawa raised her eyebrows then pinch the skin around the subject wrist, frowning a little when she doesn’t get any desired reaction.

“You’re right, but it’s understandable since we pumped the medicines out of your blood circulation system. Now we’re going to do a quick check, please look at my finger,” Fukagawa said as she holds up her index finger while holding a small flashlight.

Shiraishi does exactly like the scientist told her to. The scientist point the light straight to her eye, while her left index finger and thumb gently pry open the subject’s eye to be able to intently observe the pupil response to the light.

“Fukagawa-san, are we going to try it again?” Shiraishi asked as the scientist moved to observe her other eye.

“The medicines? Actually, about that we still haven’t reached a conclusion,” Fukagawa answered with an apologetic smile before finally turn the flashlight off and started to scribble things on the report paper using the other end of the flashlight which turns out to be a pen.

“Now, we have already inspected the video footage, your organs activity, and also asked Nishino-san about what happened. But there are still things that only you can tell, so can you please tell me what happened?”

“I was having a trouble sleeping, I think in my dream I was also in pain, but maybe that happened because of the actual condition. Well, then I woke up and my head felt like It was going to explode so I was thinking of having a glass of water, but I accidentally fell from the bed, didn’t I?” Shiraishi bit her lower lip forming what she should say next in her head before continuing, “It was kind of fuzzy. Back then, I can’t think of what’s happening because of the pain. All I can remember is how it feels like my head is being hammered and Nanase was here even though I was too busy to try handling the pain so I wasn’t in a position to ask about her purpose in this room.”

Fukagawa nodded, for a moment her eyes moves to the girl that was mentioned, “so that pain have nothing to do with Nishino-san?”

“I don’t think so since I was already in pain before I noticed her presence,” Shiraishi glance at the sleeping girl, “why is she here anyway?”

“That- is something that you should ask to her instead of me,” Fukagawa said slowly as her lips form a simple smile, “just for your information, Shiraishi-san. She’s really worried about you, to the point of her stubbornly decided to stay over, so don’t be too harsh on her, okay?”

Shiraishi who was kind of taken aback with the sudden request took a few seconds to finally nodded- couldn’t come up with anything to say.

“Great. Let’s see, hmm… There are still several other things that we need to clarify but it’s still 4AM in the morning right now and I think we should wait for the others to wake up first. You should go back to sleep too since you only had around 5 hours of sleep and that definitely not enough. Tell me if you’re having a trouble sleeping, okay? I can give you some sleeping pills for that.”

The subject contemplates upon her options of asking the drugs straight away, but realized that might not be a wise thing to do, “okay, thanks.”

“Also, I suggest you lower your volume, since not only Nishino-san who’s currently sleeping in this room.”

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows in confusion.

“Takayama-san and Sakurai-san are also staying over, they’re currently sleeping on the sofa. Hashimoto-san is also still in the building” Fukagawa gaze past the bed to where the sofa is, “you see, Shiraishi-san, maybe they’re not related to you by blood, yet they’re here for you.”

Shiraishi inspected Nishino who is sleeping, realizing if she concentrates enough she could actually hear the soft rhythm of her breaths, something that always manages to soothe her back when they are still together and her insomnia attacked.

Despite her slightly trembling fingers she slowly reached for the stray hair that covers Nishino face from her vision, tucking it to the back of the sleeping girl’s ear.

“You’re a lucky person, Shiraishi-san. Most people would’ve given up, but not her,” Fukagawa said, noticing what just the subject did, “Well. I’ll take my leave now. If something happens you know how to reach me.”

It took Shiraishi several seconds to avert her focus from Nishino to Fukagawa words before blurting out, “Thank you.”

Fukagawa wasn’t even 3 steps away from her bed, yet Shiraishi had said the words a little bit louder than needed. Making both of them realized and avert their vision to Nishino, afraid that it manage to awaken the sleeping girl. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to disturb her.

“Fukagawa-san, for everything thank you very much.”

Somehow Fukagawa thinks that Shiraishi is not only referring to her job. She looks straight to Shiraishi’s eyes, trying not to feel down when she realized that despite the sincere looking smile the other girl’s eyes are still as empty as before, “It’s okay, let’s do our best together, okay?”

“Okay.”

~To Be Continued~

AN:I wrote the last few paragraphs while waiting for nogi appearance in the halloween fest last night, it was a really beautiful performance :farofflook: Okay so, in here you'll get to find out more about Naachan and Maiyan past. :cathappy:I have started to write the plot for the Sayonara No Imi fanfic, but I'm going to be really slow with that because 1) I'm trying to prioritize this one 2)It's quite painful to write. It probably going to end up a pretty long one shot or something that has less than 3 chapter.

Answer

C:

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You’ve been updating fast or I’m just slow at catching up because I’ve been busy.

I've been updating faster than usual I think (it's one chapter/week). The thing is I'm currently having a quite hard time with school and writing this has become quite the perfect gateaway, I'm also having trouble to sleep and writing fiction is also help :nervous

A lot of people surely loves WakaNanaRei :lol:

And yep Waka being a lawyer fits her seriousness and her defender of justice trait :lol:

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Also Hashimoto Papa is following after the Holy Mother

Yeah the Papa needs to have more time to spends with the Mom after all :on gay:

I also had realize from the last summer tour that Nanamin time is coming, but I never thought that it'll be this soon, I was thinking that maybe they'll let her to center 2 songs before graduate (so my prediction was graduation on the next single instead of this one).The screentime allocation for the member in the MV is really one of the worst for nogi :( but still it's a really amazingly beautiful MV, probably they should have make it 12 minutes or something in order to give the others more screentime.

Shiraishi is really beautiful in the MV :ptam-shy: She basically have no lines, only some scenes with her amazingly breathtaking smile. Well with that kind of smile she really doesn't need to do anything else for things to work out XD :nervous

wakasama__:This one has nanamai moments, I hope you like it, there will be more nanamai moments to come since what had happened. :cathappy:Actually I always think that Reika is someone who can be serious if she wants too, I mean she's the captain after all, despite being so ponkotsu XD :banghead:

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hmm... i don't wanna talk about nanamin's graduation. it make me pain :cry: actually i'm not surprised when she announced her graduation, but i can't hold myself! I was still sad :cry: I can't imagine if it'll happen to wakarei :(

Yeah, it's kind of the same with me. This is like the first in my time liking japan idols that I have to face such an impactful exit. I can't imagine what if it's Shiraishi too, even worse because I think it'll come not far away after Nanamin.

ミサキ:Thank you, I hope you like this one as well :cow:

wakaten:I think most of people want more Nanamin, but at this time right now I can only support her decision, since what's more important is Nanamin well-being and happiness :)Lol it's fine, actually it reminds me that on February I'll also be moving away to another country. So it's kind of my separation with my current friends too :err:

This is so awesome and i can't wait to comment so i just used my phone to comment..

I'm sorry that the last time i'm blabbering lots if unnecessary things. :bow:

Back to the latest update..

As expected from serious Wakatsuki. She punch her senpai because of her friend but lolss at that 'Nagatsuki' but its better than Wakabayashi from Shitara-san.. Waka is too overprotective.... but that is why i love her....... :hip smile: :wub:I can imagine Wakatsuki's name on board for doing good academically and sports.

And Naachan! You're so kind.. too kind that you even treat the one who hurt you so much! But that is why people love her right? And maiyan fell in love with her..

Hurmmm yeah you're true.. reika can be serious if she wants to.. i think she is the kind that can't show her seriousness in front cute girl? Just kidding.. :panic: but yeah, maybe she only showing it to the person she close.. My perspective to Reika change after bemars.. she is mad and saying that 'i can't play safe anymore'. Thatt... that.. is when i know.. she can be serious whenever she wants to. Of course adding that 'when it involve her wakachuki'. :lol: XD

Regarding Sayonara no Imi mv.. well i love it too, still crying after listened to it so many times. The mv is so beautiful that i too cannot help but feel like writing another fiction about it... just like you.. And then.. well, i have another fic to write on.. So! Please please please... make a fiction based on SNI mv. I will root for you till forever.. (make it before Nanamin left please..) :cry: :cry:

Ohhhh.. are you going to move? That must be hard for you in Feb.. Nanamin is leaving to.. and you will separate from your friend..

Febuary will be crying month for you! Please stay strong!!!

P/s: did i ever mention that you have been my favorite author? Well i love your writing styless.. it didn't drag and every chapter have diff story.. it is so simple and beautiful. :wub:

"being a brilliant student whose name never seems to be absent from the announcement board because she unbelievably wins a trophy in every week or two"so this is called the power of "majime" :glasses:

nee.. naachan you said that you'll be careful with someone that you don’t know well but in the end you fell in love with her and you can't forgot her. Maiyan.. you're the luckiest person :mon lovelaff: maiyan please don't wasted her again and bring your girl back!! :banghead:

I’m glad writing the fic helps you, I’ve read many author notes that said writing fics help too.Probably should blame it on Mukuchi na Lion for making people like WakaNanaRei :lol: but they're close for real so it's not exactly surprising.Indeed, Maiyan doesn’t have to say anything, she’s stunningly beautiful and it kills when she smiles so prettily :imdead:Plus, on Nogibingo with Kazuya, Maiyan (shy) expressions are to die for. Never really thought I’m gonna ship KazuMaiyan like that even when I saw how close they are being in WhiteHigh combi, but Nogi again proves that they’re a shippable group no matter what the pair is.

No wonder Waka and Kazu aren’t really on good terms with Maiyan. Even I would be mad at Maiyan for doing that to Naachan. But dear God, Nanase is so nice! She’s such a precious human being…. :mon cry:While I wanted to say Maiyan doesn’t deserve Naachan (so far), that’s not being fair since we haven’t really seen the good part of her yet. I'm sure Maiyan is also misunderstood a lot and under a lot of pressure from everything. And I hope with this second chance, she'll treat Nanase better than ever (regardless they get back together or not).But I agree with Maimai, Maiyan is no doubt a lucky person for having many people fought for her.

Emptiness. That’s exactly what her dreamland take her to. Nothing but darkness. She felt like instead of sleeping she’s just shutting her eyes for quite a long time. At times she hears voices- that’s when she tried to open her eyes but before her mind could grasp what’s actually going on, slowly her eyelids will starting to close themselves again.

“-at was more than your body can take,” she could hear a voice saying, from the intonation she could sense a complete disagreement.

“I’m fine with being in pain.”

“Hashimoto-san, you’re not seriously considering this, right? You know how the statistic is, not to mention the other situation.”

After that statement, no one speaks up anymore, the only thing that she could hear is the sound of machine beeping.

Suddenly, she felt a soft yet cold skin making a contact with hers, this seems to be able to diminish the invisible glue that keeps her eyes shut.

The first thing she sees is a white slender hand quickly retracting away from her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Nishino shook her head. Averting it a little so she could see the face of the one that was speaking. However, she was a little bit confused when she sees Shiraishi. She blinked a few times, hoping that it could help her mind to refresh and tell her what’s actually going on.

Then it all hit her train of thought. The accident last night, the one in front of her was in pain and the two of them was alone before the scientists quickly came in and save the day- or Shiraishi to be exact. After that, they asked her so many questions about what happened, yet she wasn’t even able to answer some of them because it all happens too fast and her panicked brain doesn’t seem to fully comprehend the situation and ended up sending the wrong signal that almost caused her to puke out her dinner.

She had no idea when did she start to fall asleep. From the first place, she wasn’t even thinking of spending the night.

She raised her head and observe the one laying on the bed from toe to head, “Are you okay?”

“My head doesn’t hurt anymore, so I guess I’m okay- in a way,” Shiraishi’s hand slowly reach the button on the side of the bed, her fingers gently pushing it so the head part of the bed shifts forward and she could speak with the visitor in a much proper position.

“Don’t sit too straight up, your body is not strong enough yet,” one of the scientists reminds the subject while quickly assisting her to arrange the sitting position, “there you go.”

“Actually, can I talk privately with Nanase? It’s just for a moment, probably wouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes,” Shiraishi said to the one that helped her before. The older woman took a quick glance at Nishino before averting it to the project leader and psychiatrist that are also present in the room.

Sakurai stares at Shiraishi with full curiosity before smiling a little and said, “Okay then, I’m going to go and get myself a cup of Starbucks latte. Naa-chan, would you like anything?”

Nishino shook her head, remembering that caffeine is not really a friend of her and cold drinks could lead her weak self to the suffering of sniffling all day long, “You don’t have to, thanks for the offer.”

“Okay then. Oh, I forgot to mention, there’s a bread on the TV table for you. Don’t forget to eat,” Even though she directed the sentence to Nishino, Sakurai winked at Shiraishi before turning away, “be good to each other, I’ll be around.”

Both of them sighed at the same time as soon as the door closed and after that they look at each other, not saying anything in consideration that maybe the other want to speak first.

“Why -?”

“You sho-”

The two girls said in unison.

“You should speak first, you’re the one who asked to talk alone in the first place,” Nishino said, her eyes are looking to the linoleum floor instead of the one she’s talking to.

“Why were you here? That was around midnight, you should’ve been home.”

Nishino thinks about her option for a moment while still refusing to look at the one on the bed. When she finally come to a decision she looks back to the other girl, “I can’t do it.”

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows, definitely confused of the answer.

“I’ve tried to walk away, believe me. But I can’t do it. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t even get my focus to finish my works. Every time I did something my mind goes back to this very room.” Nishino explained then looked up for a second in an attempt to hold herself from tearing up.

“You’re not wrong that there are so many people out there who might be better than you. Not stubborn, not insensitive…. Not stuck inside a research facility because of she’s supposed to be dead,” she wiped a single tear that rolled along her face, “but they are not you.”

“They are not Shiraishi Mai that I’ve fallen in love with.”

“You know how I’ve always been in search to find my anchor. At first, I thought it was art, but I realized that I was wrong.” Nishino exhaled harshly to calm her pounding hard and clear her blurry vision, “Maiyan is my anchor. Just to see you here breathing, moving, and trying to overcome your problem is already enough for me to get a spark of hope that everything is going to be fine. That’s enough for me to at least get a little bit of motivation to face the next day.”

“That’s why I need you.”

“However, we’re not exactly together anymore and I am afraid that you will drive me away again. So at night when you’re sleeping that’s the only time I have enough courage to come in, to be with you within a reachable distance.”

“I know that it’s already hard for you, but I j-just.. can’t.”

Then it happens, despite her attempt to detach herself from the words that came from her mouth, tears still came out and it doesn’t seem to understand her silent order to stop.

In contrast to crying Nishino, another girl was stupefied. Her mind couldn’t form any appropriate response to what she had heard, she believes that she is the one to blame for this matter, yet her emotion again failed her to be able to feel regret for her actions.

She would’ve hated herself for that, but ironically she also could not.

“I’m sorry. I thought that was for the best,” she speaks the words slowly, hoping that it would sound apologetic, then she pushed her back off the soft surface of the bed, leaning forward a little so her hand slowly reach out to wipe the other girl tears.

“Would you like to start over again?” Shiraishi asked while waiting for the other girl to finally be able to make eye contacts with her before continuing, “I promise I will try, but you should keep in mind that with my condition what I can do is really limited.”

But instead of replying Nishino tears intensity seems to increase as she lightly shook her head from left to right, seeing this Shiraishi become confused and say “It’s okay if you don’t want to. You don’t need to worry because I’m not in a position to feel anything anyway.”

“N-no. I want to…” She said while wiping her tears with her sweater sleeve, leaving a damp spot on the soft gray colored fabric. Shiraishi gently wiped the streaming tears away from the girl's cheek, making a slight shush to help to calm her down.

If her body isn’t still connected by tubes and tiny wires with several machines around her, she would have been off the bed by now- engulfing Nishino in a hug just like what the other girl did last night, but with how the situation is the only thing she could do is caress her face with one hand, while her thumb wipe the tears, repeating the word ‘shush’ and ‘it’s okay’ every now and then.

On the other side, Nishino is actually feeling better, as if with every drop of tear she shed she also release the invisible weight in her chest. Albeit slow, little by little her cries fade into a sob and that’s when she stood up, thinking that she needs to drink a glass of water in order to tone it down completely.

It was her intention to press the blue dispenser button instead of the red or the colorless one, but turns out the water is colder than she thought, she was a bit shocked that she actually choked a little.

“Nanase, are you okay?”

Nishino held out her hand that’s not holding the glass of water and does a thumb up, couldn’t actually say anything because she’s now on a mission to stop the coughing fit. The good thing is once it stops she realized that she has actually managed to stop the sob and tears too.

She placed the empty glass on the top of the room counter, halting her movement when her eyes accidentally passed the huge glass that she’s been trying hard to not pay any attention to.

Somehow she feels like someone is observing her from the other room, probably looking straight to her eyes right now.

She is not wrong, though, however, the person has averted her gaze away when Nishino did somehow look straight to her as if she could actually see past the mirror.

“I’ll help you.” The person said, her vision move from her phone to the short haired beside her.

“No, don’t you know what you’re doing? I know how you’re not exactly keen on her and would love to see her suffer, but this- You could get her killed.” Sakurai butted in after gulping down her drink. Looking straight at her girlfriend with a face full of disbelieve and disagreement.

Wakatsuki has decided to drop by for a moment before going to meet her client, to check her housemates' condition as well as bringing the beverages that her girlfriend wanted- even though in the end the girl is insisting on drinking hers instead of the one that she ordered.

That aside, once she got to the building she was called into a private conversation with Hashimoto as well as Ikuta. The company had actually requested her help regarding Shiraishi condition, which resulting in strong opposition from one of the scientist and also her own girlfriend.

She realized by the slight frown on the psychiatrist feature that maybe the project leader and director have not told them about the current situation. Luckily, without needing a signal for her one of them started the explanation.

“What we do is still not enough, the progress last night was pretty huge but is still not enough. Something happened last night, something that pretty much blaring a warning signal that we need to take a risk.” Hashimoto tried to explain, she looked at Ikuta hoping that she could help her, but the young girl still looking at the subject room with a faraway look.

“What happened?” Fukagawa asked.

“Last night, national police shut down one of our rival company projects,” Ikuta said, not even taking her eyes away from observing her step-sister, “not only that, they also took everything away with them.”

“Including the subjects,” Hashimoto added thinking that the director would not be able to mention that.

“There’s must be a reason for that, right? There’s no way they shut the project down just because they wanted the subject,” the psychiatrist speak up.

“Sakurai-san, the national police usually doesn’t care about what research company does, unless it’s something that could benefit them,” Ikuta turn to face the other girl, “one of the things that they pay attention to is the success rate on their operations and right now the disability of our subject is actually a key for their problem.”

It doesn’t take Sakurai long to realize what does the young girl means, but the director still continue her explanation, “An emotionally stable people will be really helpful, but someone who couldn’t feel pain, remorse, sadness will be the best, aren’t they? The kind of people who would not leak the country secret from being scared, would not hesitate whenever they’re told to kill or drop a bomb.”

“The whole human rights thing is just their way to get their hands inside the project. They don't actually care about humanity. In fact, if we let have a copy of our data, I’m pretty sure the only thing that will improve is the number of human having the same case.”

“At first, I thought about moving her to another place, but you see the thing with our rival company actually happens outside the country, so moving will be useless. If the situation is different I would never agree to this kind of practice, but now I just want to prevent similar thing happen to us too. Which is why as long that the subject herself is okay with it I will support every solution that Hashimoto-san offers.” Ikuta sighed as she finished her long explanation.

“Look, I know that this is probably against your ideal, which is why right now I’m saying that it's okay to walk out from this project. Not only Sakurai-san but also Fukagawa-san and Takayama-san too,” Hashimoto announced looking at each of their faces for a moment.

“Actually, this is not really related with the part that I’m working on, the only thing that I have to do left is checking periodically, so I have no problem with that,” Takayama speaks up after several seconds of silence.

“Thank you, Takayama-san.”

“Me too. I mean, I’m continuing,” Fukagawa smile catches the project leader eye, “it was my own decision to work on this project from the first place. I’m going to finish what I’ve started.”

Hashimoto nodded and replied her smile with a little bit of hers. To tell the truth, she was afraid that the older woman would leave the project, the two has been working on the same project ever since their early days in the company, both already know how the other works and could adjust properly at their own pace. She couldn’t help but feel relieved because losing Fukagawa could actually hamper her way of working.

Hashimoto sighed and look at the one that has not decide, “How about you, Sakurai-san?”

Sakurai doesn’t meet the project leader eyes, instead, she’s looking at her girlfriend who in turn also doesn't want to look at her and choose to stare at one of the screens in the room as if she could understand the graph that it’s showing.

The young psychiatrist realized that the whole problem with the national police isn’t actually the main reason for Wakatsuki to accept the offer.

She turned to look at the subject who now seems to be talking about something while Nishino listens as she slowly munches on the bread. Even though her eating pace is slow Sakurai could see the differences with how she usually eats in their home.

No matter what, the young lawyer main reason is actually Nishino. Even though she loathes Shiraishi but knowing that she is the one who probably could help her best friend is enough a reason for her to lend a helping hand.

That trait is also one of the reasons for Sakurai to fall in love with the younger girl. However, the situation is quite different with herself, she has always been someone who’s afraid of getting people hurt, which is also the reason of why she chose her job because she wanted to be able to actually help people from hurting themselves.

What they’re going to do with Shiraishi is complete the opposite from her purpose, not to mention that there’s no guarantee that this is going to be successful. On the other hand, standing still despite knowing everything will be a coward move since she knows how this would not only affect the subject.

“I’m still in,” she declared softly, “however, there are several things that I want to establish first.”

“One, there is still another method that I wanted to try, which requires your permission and coordination, Ikuta-san.” Sakurai looks straight to the director, who in return gives her a slight raise of eyebrows followed by a simple nod.

“Two, you should always be transparent about what you are doing. I know what you did, Hashimoto-san, I know exactly why Shiraishi-san got into that state. You manipulated the data and increased the drug's dosage.” Everyone in the room seems to be surprised with her words, including the project leader herself, “look I know that you are in a tight place, but that kind of thing should’ve been discussed with us too, even more after everything that has happened. Because, if this kind of thing happens again, I’m leaving.”

~To Be Continued~

AN:Thanks for reading XD This one is a bit harder than usual to write, but hmm... I hope I manage to do it justice. Also, I'm currently on my midterm so I couldn't promise a quick update (not to mention I've begun to build the plot for the SNI fic).

replies:

wakaten:

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Waka is too overprotective.... but that is why I love her.......

That's actually one of my reason for liking Waka too :deco:

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So! Please please please... make a fiction based on SNI mv. I will root for you till forever.. (make it before Nanamin left please..) :cry: :cry:

if only we got more than 24 hours a day I could probably work faster, but I'm trying my best and also I'm only going to post it once it's actually completed so be patient okay? XD :)

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Ohhhh.. are you going to move? That must be hard for you in Feb.. Nanamin is leaving to.. and you will separate from your friend.. Febuary will be crying month for you! Please stay strong!!!

It's not really fixed yet, but there's like 70% chance I'm moving out in feb. Not only away from my friend but also my family... I'll stay strong as I continue to relate with Nanamin in the term of leaving :farofflook:

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P/s: did i ever mention that you have been my favorite author? Well i love your writing styless.. it didn't drag and every chapter have diff story.. it is so simple and beautiful. :wub:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, akdjaskdja. There are still many things that I'm trying to improve when it comes to writing style, but I'm flattered that you love it :shy2:Thanks for reading :)wakasama__:Wakatsuki is really serious and her hard work pays off splendidly XD and Maiyan is also trying :cathappy: I hope you'll love the nanamai and very little of wakarei moment in this chapter :D Thanks for reading :)

C:

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Probably should blame it on Mukuchi na Lion for making people like WakaNanaRei :lol: but they're close for real so it's not exactly surprising.

Mukuchi na Lion totally open the gate of wakananarei shipping XD and yep they're close for real *start a petition for staff to make a unit with only the three of them :lol:

Ah about that danso nogibingo, I was actually quite dissatisfied because I am a big fan of Maiyan danso and she was doing the girls role instead, but seeing how she is with Kazuya is totally worth it because we don't get too see shy Maiyan often :shy1:. You're totally right about nogis being so shippable with one another, maybe because how they're actually close with each other so it doesn't look strange or forced?

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But dear God, Nanase is so nice! She’s such a precious human being…. :mon cry:While I wanted to say Maiyan doesn’t deserve Naachan (so far), that’s not being fair since we haven’t really seen the good part of her yet. I'm sure Maiyan is also misunderstood a lot and under a lot of pressure from everything.

Nanase is really a precious human being that deserves all the love and protection :deco: To be honest, there are times where I reread the story and kind of get irritated with Maiyan too, but yeah I still haven't revealed about what happened with Maiyan so stay tuned XD.Thanks for reading :)

ahh.. another nanamai moments :nya: (don't worry. because nogi members were very comfortable to paired with other members so I'll love them). Naachan confession make me giggling. If there's no person in my side, I'll scream like a crazy people :on lol:and what will happen with maiyan? whether she'll recover soon?

“I’ve tried to walk away, believe me. But I can’t do it. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t even get my focus to finish my works. Every time I did something my mind goes back to this very room.” Nishino explained then looked up for a second in an attempt to hold herself from tearing up.

“You’re not wrong that there are so many people out there who might be better than you. Not stubborn, not insensitive…. Not stuck inside a research facility because of she’s supposed to be dead,” she wiped a single tear that rolled along her face, “but they are not you.”

“They are not Shiraishi Mai that I’ve fallen in love with.”

awww naachan, i never expected you to be this romantic...

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“Would you like to start over again?” Shiraishi asked while waiting for the other girl to finally be able to make eye contacts with her before continuing, “I promise I will try, but you should keep in mind that with my condition what I can do is really limited.”

“No, don’t you know what you’re doing? I know how you’re not exactly keen on her and would love to see her suffer, but this- You could get her killed.” Sakurai butted in after gulping down her drink. Looking straight at her girlfriend with a face full of disbelieve and disagreement.

Wakatsuki has decided to drop by for a moment before going to meet her client, to check her housemates' condition as well as bringing the beverages that her girlfriend wanted- even though in the end the girl is insisting on drinking hers instead of the one that she ordered.

nahhh, i knew it this would happen once Reika said she wanted to have coffee and i was like "waka will bring it for you!" and i was right.. :whistle:

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“I’m still in,” she declared softly, “however, there are several things that I want to establish first.”

“One, there is still another method that I wanted to try, which requires your permission and coordination, Ikuta-san.” Sakurai looks straight to the director, who in return gives her a slight raise of eyebrows followed by a simple nod.

“Two, you should always be transparent about what you are doing. I know what you did, Hashimoto-san, I know exactly why Shiraishi-san got into that state. You manipulated the data and increased the drug's dosage.” Everyone in the room seems to be surprised with her words, including the project leader herself, “look I know that you are in a tight place, but that kind of thing should’ve been discussed with us too, even more after everything that has happened. Because, if this kind of thing happens again, I’m leaving.”

reika... you're so serious.. what happen to you Popcorn Princess?? :mon huh:

damn, i love this chapter.. like the atmosphere all of them finally meeting in one place and talking about Maiyan and Naachan.. some of them cared about Maiyan (the scientist group) and some of them worried about naachan (this is purely only Waka RIGHT) and with Reika that genuinely professional with her job..

man! i really love this story!please update soon.... don't missing in action for too long Author-san!

:mon cry: Naachan, why you.....I have no words for her except I wanna scream “Maiyan, you lucky bastard!” :lol:My heart goes out to Naachan, though. Somebody as nice as her doesn’t deserve all this crap and pain. Someone, make her happy please! (also read as: Maiyan, you better step up soon! Like reaallly soon! lol)But she has taken a step now, good job :mon thumb:It’s rather ironic how the cyborg Shiraishi is actually trying to make the relationship work despite not feeling as opposed to when she’s ‘alive’. Maybe the not feeling thing is a good thing in a way...funny, huh?Ugh, the situation is getting worse. Government, just stay away! :mon fierce: :mon woo:Did I mention how I love that WakaRei are like parents to Naachan? :D

There really should be a sub-unit with WakaNanaRei. Preferably with PV like Mukuchi na Lion too XDYeah, I like how Nogi can joke around with the members freely, 1st gen and 2nd mixing together. They don’t seem like they get along because they have no choice but to do so since being put in a group, they seemed to care genuinely for each other.

She doesn’t remember what her reason for playing in the first place but ever since she was introduced to the bat, the glove, and the ball, she was hooked.

She was often jealous of her young step-sister who seems to be able to do anything while the only thing that she could proudly say she’s good at is cooking which doesn’t actually have any effects since her father hires a certified chef to cook for them. Thus is why she was really happy when she realized that she is incredibly good in softball, within her short time of joining the school team she had climb up from substitute to the ace pitcher.

They had their share of wins as well as losses but one thing for sure Shiraishi was indeed enjoying every second of her time.

She was only a first-grade middle-high schooler when she managed to bring her team to win the national match. Back then she had stayed up late to wait for her father to come home so she could show him the picture of her holding up the big trophy. That’s something that she always did whenever she won something and just every other day her father would nod while saying “congratulation dear, it’s good to have a hobby but don’t forget about your studies okay?”

Then the teenager would nod proudly as she asks her father to see her next match which will be replied with a simple, “let’s see what I can do.”

He had never come.

However, she has her little sister who had never missed the chance to see every single match she had even though the young girl doesn’t actually have much spare time left from balancing her advanced studies and piano lessons. That’s why Shiraishi herself also tries to support her as much as she can.

In her family, there’s an unwritten rule where the school should always go first, followed by business related events and finally their hobby related activity or as she put it something that’s not academic related. Not only the company, their own family also often held events, be it charity or some high-class dinner with other important figures- they seem to have held them all. Furthermore, if this kind of event ever held outside their school hours it is a must for either Shiraishi or Ikuta to be present.

Ikuta is often in a tough position since usually this kind of thing is held on the evening when 90% of piano competition take place, this is where Shiraishi comes in. She is always present whenever the younger girl couldn’t, even though if someone asks she would not hesitate to say that she actually prefer locking herself inside her own room than spending a mere second in the event.

Nonetheless, her love for the softball turns upside down she tried to bring the second national trophy for her team. It was mostly her fault, she was too fixated on the trophy that she forgot to actually take care of herself. She wasn’t listening when her coach told them to get a rest from 2 days before the match, resulting herself to broke down from exhaustion on the day of the match.

She had to spend a few days in the hospital bed after that and that’s actually the first time she had ever spent the night at the hospital. Her opinion on this matter was that the hospital bed is really uncomfortable, not to mention she’s quite scared of the building atmosphere, so she was pretty much hating every second of her time there.

On the next day her teammates, as well as her coach, had come to visit her. At first, she was really happy to see them because no one tells her anything about the result of their last match but her excitement didn’t last long because unfortunately, they lost the match.

Upon hearing the news Shiraishi apologized for her negligence while in turn, her teammates tried to convince her that their loss wasn’t her fault and they could still try to win the game next year. Her father who was also there successfully worsen the situation by horribly yelled at her coach and accused him responsible for what’s happening to her, he wasn’t even listening when she tried to explain that it was all her own fault.

Shiraishi Mai felt nothing but terrible.

After that accident, she decided quit the softball team and started to distance herself from her former teammates, but she made a lot of new friends whom mostly comes from the same family background as hers and tried to live her life easily like them. It was quite fun. However, at tough times she still found herself back in her backyard and swing her old bat to relax her mind.

Around the first month of her last middle school year, her father had brought her to see a stage play that was directed by his old friend. She originally was someone who thinks that stage play is lame, yet in just a few minutes from when the play start her opinion of it change drastically. She became curious, on how the actors seem to be able to keep their mistakes low, how they need to stick to the script yet make it as natural as it could be, how on the stage they need to be someone else that probably have a totally opposite personality from their selves.

After the play ends she was allowed to go to the backstage and before she knows it she had already asked so many questions straight to the play director. It was probably a little bit too many than normal because the man raised his eyebrows in surprise, totally wasn’t expecting that kind of interest to come from someone who’s not even 15 years old, heir of a big company, no less. Seeing this the man offered her to attend a summer stage acting class, she quickly looked at her father asking for his permission.

“It’s fine as long as you don’t neglect your other duties,” he said and that was enough to make her happy enough to the point of giving her father a shoulder massage once they are back home.

On the stage, Shiraishi Mai found something to be passionate about. Something that she could put both mind and heart into it. She might be one of the high school cliques that will get some of the people clucked their tongue in disagreement whenever they see her but once she stepped into the theater building she had become completely someone else.

This is also what led Shiraishi to start giving more effort on her studies. She might not be Erika who manages to leap several years on school, but she could at least stop skipping her classes and pay more attention to the lessons which successfully helps her grade to climb up and stay among the top 5 on every single exam.

Back then, she realized that being a top scorer does have some perks, like how it becomes much easier for her to flirt with a girl in a study session or how easy she could excuse herself from a family event with exam preparation reason. Not to mention that once she finally gets together with Nishino, the girl sometimes mentions how she adored her strength to balance hard work on studies and stage performances and that pretty much help boosting Shiraishi’s pride.

There’s also another reason for Shiraishi to suddenly considered high grade as something important.

Ever since she was young her father already planned to have her studying at overseas university, preferably in the United States- this is the reason he always tells her to prioritize her studies. Back then she didn’t dare to turn down her father hopes on continuing her studies on the field that could actually benefit her to succeed Nogizaka. However, she also realized that maybe if she’s smart enough she could be enrolled in a prestigious performing arts academy while balancing the business studies and her father would totally have nothing against that.

For a moment she did.

But after several terms passed it started to become a problem for her. In the morning till late afternoon she’d be studying in university. Then she’d quickly move to the academy till a little bit past midnight since they always have a play to practice after class. After that, despite her body screaming in need of rest and her eyes could barely stay opened she still need to do her homework and studies the play script. She basically has no time left to rest.

So after several months contemplating her options, she decided to take a risk and left the university to focus on the performing arts only. Of course, her father was beyond angry, he even stopped giving her financial support. However, Shiraishi wasn’t giving up, she moved to a much smaller apartment and try to earn some money by her own with part time jobs while depending on scholarship for tuition.

Nevertheless, it’s even harder than she thought it would be.

“DAMN IT!” she cursed as she crunches the paper on her hand into a ball. She leans her back on the cold brick wall, slowly slides down until her bottom touches the cold pavement of the city. Her hands reached the phone on her jeans pocket.

There’s several missed calls and also one new message that she could probably guess from who without even needing to open it. However paying attention to them is not her purpose right now, she quickly went to the contact list and scroll through it before without any second thought press the call button.

After her two unsuccessful attempts, her call is finally getting answered.

‘Shiraishi~ what a surprise! For what do I have the honor to receive this call?’

“Stop playing dumb, I’ve seen the cast of our next play.”

‘Ah about that…’ the way the guy voice trailed away at the end managed to hit Shiraishi right on the nerve.

“I did every single thing that you want me to, yet this is what I GOT?” she started to increase her volume, “YOU PROMISE ME THE LEAD, REMEMBER? I DON’T EVEN GET A PROMINENT ROLE.”

‘Ssh~ ssh~ Shiraishi you’re going to kill my eardrum. Look, something happened. We probably need to talk about this in person instead of the phone.’

Shiraishi hugs her knees in order to calm herself from frustration. The thing is, she needs to get a lead role or at least the main antagonist in order to have the academy continue her scholarship. She already did every single thing that she could, even to the point of trying to pull some strings from behind.

However, none of them work.

Her phone rings- disrupting her from her thought. She glanced at the screen and contemplates for a moment before decided to answer it.

“I’m giving you 20 seconds to explain,” she muttered.

‘Right. I swear I already nominated your name for the lead role, but it got rejected. I tried to switch you into other roles, but it always got rejected. They say that for some reasons you’re not allowed to get a major part for now. Look, you might need to talk to the head of the program. This is fishy, I think. Because everyone knows that you’ve been getting major roles all this time and from my professional opinion I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do it this time. I’m really sorry, okay? But they left me with no choice.’

Shiraishi sighed, trying not to think about one particular reason for that to happen.

“Thanks, I’ll be fine,” she said as she hangs up once more.

After several minutes sitting in silence, she decided to stand up and enter the door beside her, stepping into the Japanese restaurant where she works part-time. The clock has gone past 11PM which means that it’s already the time for them to close the business for the day, Shiraishi looked around to make sure that there are no guests left before turning off several lights in the room and turn ‘we’re open’ sign into ‘sorry, we’re close’.

“Shiraishi-san? You’re still here?” came a woman voice from behind her, “I told you that you don’t need to work until so late on weekdays, didn’t I?”

“It’s fine, Shinuichi-san. Nowadays, I need all the extra money that I can get,” she smiled bitterly as she started to close the blind in the room, “and also, if I may, can I get extra work hours? To tell the truth, my savings are not enough to cover school tuition next term.”

Shiraishi looked the older woman who is looking at her with mouth parted open. Shiraishi herself knows that her part-time working hours is already longer than what her academy permits, but she couldn’t help but hope that the restaurant manager could somewhat help her more.

“I can’t give you more work hours. However, I can promote you to the kitchen. I noticed that you cook very well, so maybe that could suit you. It also pays more than being a waitress. What do you think?”

“It will be great. Thank you very much, I’ll do my best,” Shiraishi said while bowing several times to show the older woman her gratefulness.

“No need to do that, Shiraishi-san, you’ve been a great help around here.” The woman shook her off as she intently checked the cashier monitor, “now, let’s get this done so we could go home, shall we?”

At night the restaurant have 3 waiters and 2 other person who only does cleaning and this number doesn’t include the people who work in the kitchen, so when it comes to wrapping it up and closing the place they could do it quickly. In less than 15 minutes Shiraishi had already changed and hung her uniform on the clothes hanger. She didn’t say anything other than a polite ‘see you tomorrow’ to the other coworkers before stepping out from the building.

The walk from her workplace to the small flat that she’s renting takes around 30 minutes, it could be faster if she takes the subway, but it has been around a month since she realized that saving subway cost will do her good.

While walking her eyes sticks to her phone screen, staring at the red sign near her sister skype account picture, she sighed before trying to dial it.

Of course, no answer.

She was considering what she should type in the chat box when a call comes in. She inspects the contact for a moment before sliding her finger on the answer button. It’s not from her sister but also someone else that she needs to talk with.

Her girlfriend, Nishino Nanase.

“I’m still on the way back home, so I can’t do video call right now, will this be okay?” She speaks before the caller could say anything.

‘It’s okay. Well, I went to your house this morning,’ the caller admitted.

“Was Erika there?”

‘She was. We had breakfast together. We didn’t really talk much, she was preparing for a class quiz,’ both of them stay silence for a short moment before the one in Tokyo talked again, ‘have you- talked to her after that?’

“I haven’t- She is not answering my calls nor read the chats that I’ve sent. Did you try to talk to her about what happened?” Shiraishi free hand rubbed her temple, realizing that her problem with her sister is probably also one of the causes of her constant headache.

‘I did… She said for the moment she doesn’t want to think about the competition,’ Shiraishi could tell by her slower pace of speaking that the other is also worried, ‘Maiyan, what is going on?’

Shiraishi stays silence, not knowing how to answer the question.

She basically has promised to come back to Japan for a few days this week. Her family is having their annual business partnership gathering event that her father couldn’t attend because he’s overseeing an urgent project overseas while her sister is having a piano competition on the exact same day, which is why the task of being the host of the dinner lands into her hands. However, with how tight her finance she couldn’t afford a two-way ticket and she realized that there’s a possibility for her father to try stopping her from leaving Japan because even right now she’s sort of hiding from the man in order to keep herself away from being dragged back to her hometown.

So with Ikuta knowing nothing about her current condition she told the girl that she couldn’t go back to Japan for a while. Of course, her sister was startled, she has never canceled her plan that sudden before. Their conversation get even more heated when Ikuta tried to change her mind, that ended up with Shiraishi being mad and basically tell Ikuta to grow up and stop throwing everything she couldn’t do to her hands. Hearing that Ikuta said a curt apology and hang up, despite the really polite words that she was using, it’s not hard to tell the young girl was really upset.

Two days after that Shiraishi finally realized that her sister is supposed to be competing for the national championship which trophy has been inside Ikuta's dreams ever since she was barely 10. That was the first the young prodigy had finally gotten a chance to participate and because of her the girl couldn’t even attend the championship, let alone winning it.

To tell the truth, just like her sister, Nishino doesn’t know anything that’s happening in Shiraishi’s life, not even a thing about how she had quit the university. She had known even from before they were dating that Nishino capability of handling stress is a little bit below average and Shiraishi thinks that her girlfriend has already a lot in her hands since being an animation student means that she’s always in a constant struggle to finish her assignment before the deadline. That’s why she tried to hide everything from her.

‘Maiyan? Are you still there?’ Nishino asked, realizing that she’s been quite for several minutes.

“I- I…” she stammered before regaining herself to continue, “I also owe Nanase an apology. I am sorry I can’t be beside you today. Happy anniversary, even though we can’t be physically together right now, knowing that Nanase is there for me is enough. Thank you for everything. I love you”

‘Happy anniversary. I also need to thank Maiyan for everything too. Thank you for trying to understand me. I love you,’ Nishino said before continuing, ‘but Maiyan seems to be in a trouble lately and I couldn’t help but feel worried. I’m not going to push you to tell me what’s going on, but you should at least tell Erika-chan.’

“Nanase, can we… talk about something else?” She asked as she for a moment looked up at the starless sky.

‘Okay, what do you want to talk about?’

She thinks about it for a moment, her eyes go back to the night sky before finally saying, “I was looking for a star in case you want to make a wish but too bad there’s none tonight.”

‘Maiyan, I don’t think it could work like that,’ her soft chuckles reached Shiraishi’s ear, ‘it also supposed to be a falling star.’

“Then, what do you want to commemorate our 3rd year?”

‘I don’t know… Do you have anything in mind? I want to get something for us too.’

“Mmm… Actually, a few months ago I check out some rings on a jewelry store, I haven’t bought anything since I want to confirm the design with you first. Since our anniversary is coming so I thought maybe right now is the right time to decide. What do you think?”

‘That will be good…’

Shiraishi’s mouth curled into a smile trying to imagine that her girlfriend is probably blushing right now, “I’ll send you some pictures after this, do tell me what you like the most, okay?”

After that, they talk a lot, from what is happening in the anime that Nishino always following to Shiraishi trying to explain the whole plot of Hamlet that will be performed in the next academy stage play. She tried to speak as if everything is normal, trying to consider the conversation a quick and easy gate away from her problems.

When Nishino finally hang up because she needs to get ready for class Shiraishi realized it she’s already a few steps away from the 6 stories square building where she’s living right now. The light before the entrance is blinking every several seconds, a real prove of how stingy her landlord is when it comes to the building expenses. But there’s something that different tonight, since her place it’s quite on the outskirts of the city where most people is having a problem to pay for their everyday life usually there will be no car parked on the road in front of the building, unless some broken old cars that someone bought with a thought that it’ll be easy to fix it personally. However, right on the street in front of the building where she lives she finds a pitch black sedan with the familiar tree pointed star logo.

She frowns when she walked passed it, thinking about how out of place it looks with the surroundings.

Without no particular reason, she started to walk faster and entered the building. Something inside her is saying that something is not right yet she couldn’t point it out. Her steps seem to have gotten heavier as she climbs the creaking wooden stairs to the 4th floor where she lives. She quickly stepped closer to the door at the end of the corridor while her hands are rummaging her bag to find her key.

She halted when failed to turn the key on the door, her heart beating faster upon the realization that the door is already unlocked, she holds her breath as her hand slowly turning the doorknob open.

The lights that she was sure was turned off before she left the place is now on, but she doesn’t have time to wonder about the strange thing because on her small bed sat the man that she doesn’t want to see the most.

Her own father.

“What are you doing here?” Her tone came out harsh and unwelcoming. She frowns at another guy that dressed in black who leaned on the room wall.

“Visiting my missing daughter and see how’s she doing, what else do you think?”

“Okay. I’m fine. See?” she snapped as she put down her bag next to the television table, “I will be much better if my father doesn’t meddle with my life to the point of trying to get me expelled from school.”

“And what exactly are you doing in that school? THIS!?” her father thrown several photographs to the floor in front of him. His voice is so loud that the daughter started to get worried he’ll disturb the neighbors.

Shiraishi Mai kneels down to inspect the photographs. She’s inside every single of it and what makes it a problem is that she wasn’t alone. Shiraishi froze when her hand lays on one photograph that clearly shows a man leading her inside a townhouse that clearly not where she lives.

“A-Are you trying to blackmail me with these?” she stammered.

“Mai, I have never quite understood your way of thinking. From generation to generation, our family has always tried to improve the company, so we could pass it on to our children. Just like me, working as hard as I could to be able to pass it on to you. But you… chose this kind of life?”

“THAT WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED IF YOU JUST LET ME DO WHAT I WANT,” she snapped looking at the man with eyes full of anger before averting her gaze away. She tried to regain herself before continue speaking in lower volume, “I was never having a hard time before and now I am- to the point of me needing to do that.”

“Stop being too naïve, child. This kind of thing is common in the field you’re meddling right now,” the man rubbed the bridge of his nose, “it’s not too late. I talked to the head of the program in the university, they’ll let you enroll again next term.”

“Why can’t you just stop forcing what do you want on me? I am sorry, but I am not Erika who can balance what she love to do while taking care of the company. I also don't want to be you who always working all the time to the point of having no spare time for your daughters. I don’t want to be you who never have time to take care of anything else besides work to the point of having my mother left because she couldn’t take it anymore and Erika’s mother died because you was never there to notice that she was battling a severe illness.”

“ENOUGH!”

“I’m so glad to see you doing well, father. However, it’s already quite late at night and I have no wish to see you anymore, so please leave before I called the police.” She said as she walked to open the door.

“You’ll understand it eventually. You know how to find me once you do,” her father gave her a long sharp look before finally stepped out of the studio type flat, he was definitely stomping his foot in anger as he walked away with the other guy tailing behind him.

After they are finally out of sight, Shiraishi slammed her door shut and locked it. She walked back to where the photograph was scattered around the floor to gather them in her hands. She made sure that she’s already holding every single photo before turning the stove in order to create a fire.

One by one she burns the photograph into ashes. She realized that most likely there are more that her father has, but still her hands are itching to get rid of every single piece that she could find. However, when the last one has finally joined the remains of the other she’s still feeling as horrible as she was the first time she saw the photos.

Shiraishi hates it. She hates that she’s not as smart as her step sister. She hates that she couldn’t be what she want to be. She hates that her father was right- she is too naïve.

She lay down on her bed, hugging the flat pillow as hard as she can before sticking her face on to it and scream as hard as she can. She did over and over again until her throat felt sore but that doesn’t help at all. She’s hurting emotionally and couldn’t find anything that could help to relieve the pain.

Maybe it will be better if she couldn’t feel anything at all. Maybe her life could finally work that way, no remorse nor care about things that she has done. That way maybe she could just do whatever she wants without caring about what other’s think or she could just do whatever those people wants because she herself doesn’t have any passion for something.

As crazy as it sounds somehow she thinks that it will be perfect for her.

~To Be Continued~

AN:

Finally updated. It took almost a month isn't it? I'm so sorry for that :bow: So this chapter tells a backstory of Maiyan and it was totally longer than I had expected, in future chapter I think I'm going to write a backstory Nanase too, but I'm kind of still rearranging several parts of the plot. This chapter is really heavy that I'm afraid it will get boring, but it needs to be told soo... Because it's longer so I probably makes more mistakes than usual, please forgive me :bow:

Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for making some of you worried because the late update :bow:

On the other hand Maiyan is getting a PB next year asdhsakjdksajdksasa :deco:Replieswakasama__:

We're going back to the past in this chapter, we'll find out about present time Maiyan in next chapter :D

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Naachan confession make me giggling. If there's no person in my side, I'll scream like a crazy people

Please do scream like a crazy people once you're alone :on lol:

Thanks for reading :cathappy:

wakaten:First of all I'm so sorry for this long update, I hope this one will suffice :bow:

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awww naachan, i never expected you to be this romantic...

Whenever I see Nanase mousou I got this vibe that she's actually a romantic :wub: even more than Maiyan :nervous

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some of them worried about naachan (this is purely only Waka RIGHT)

Yep, that's Waka being Waka XDThanks for reading :)

amachan48:

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and then, the next problem. It seems since Mai "wake up from her dead" she has never actually meet with Erika, right??I guess there will be a dramatic scene when Mai and Erika finally meet each other >...< it's just, we know Erika used to really love her onee-chan so much.but then again, even before the accident Mai and Erika was already in the not talking to each other terms. i think these two miss each other so much >...<

Yep she's never actually meets Ikuchan, since Iku never goes past the observation room. In this chapter you'll see what happened between Erika and Mai, please do tell me about what do you think :nervous. They'll be reunited eventually, but I can't say when XDThank you for reading :)

C:

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I have no words for her except I wanna scream “Maiyan, you lucky bastard!” Ugh, the situation is getting worse. Government, just stay away!Did I mention how I love that WakaRei are like parents to Naachan?

Maiyan is indeed a lucky bastard :glasses:the government are not staying away because just like every one else they want Maiyan :mon noprob:That's what I'm trying to write, tho... Because I'm all up for wakarei family with naachan as their child :deco:

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There really should be a sub-unit with WakaNanaRei. Preferably with PV like Mukuchi na Lion too

Finallyyyyyy an update... its okay if you take longer time or longer chapter because this is good. You're always good.... :hip smile:

But this chapter make me emotional.. too emotional that i feel like crying... the crisis between ikumai.. i know something was wrong between them since ikuchan never met mai face to face.. yet she love maiyan so much that she's so into the project..

Mai... you shouldn't said that to your sister... they're indeed sister with high level of stuborness.

So nanamai already be together 3 years now huh... somehow i want to know how maiyan get into accident.. i want to know ikuchan's reaction and how Naachan take it as maiyan was away from japan..

Damn her father!!!!! I hate him for making maiyan into this... By those pictures and the man and with maiyan say she even dared to pulled strings from behind does thats mean she is doing something not appropriate??? No mai!!!!!!!

seems maiyan's life is complicated.. her father is never look at mai's condition. mai can't be like erika who's smart and can manage her hobby and study, she only can focused on 1 thing and sacrifice the other. why didn't he just let mai do what she wants? :(

mai is lucky, has nanase that always by her side and keep supporting her^^

please make a naachan's story too :D

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On the other hand Maiyan is getting a PB next year asdhsakjdksajdksasa :deco:

omedeto~ haha. can't wait for the release day :cathappy:

ps: do you know, my life is like maiyan's story... I have that kind of father too

I swear this gets super duper interesting haha.It's really sad to hear Maiyan's story and it is sadder to see her condition now. If only her father would as much as appreciate what she wants to pursue. Thank you for the update author-san! In the meantime I would be patiently waiting for the next update and it would be nice to see a bit of a MaiNana flashback before this accident somewhere in the future chapters haha. Keep up the awesome work! :twothumbs

Softball Maiyan never gets old :yep:I can understand her jealousy, Iku-chan really is something else.IkuMai sisters supporting each other is :luvluv2:

I had a feeling Maiyan’s past gonna be like this. Poor Maiyan, she’s just trying to find herself and where she belongs.Why do I get the feeling her father was the one who sabotaged the whole thing so Maiyan can’t get the role?I suppose what made everything worsen was she was doing everything by herself even though she has Naachan by her side. But I doubt with her personality/stubbornness she would ask anyone for help let alone her own girlfriend.

I’m blaming all this mess on Maiyan’s father!! (Not really) But in a way, I can see some Maiyan in him. Like how both of them decided what’s best for the other without actually talking to others involved who will directly/indirectly be impacted by their decision. Her father wanted her to follow his lead for a better life, while Maiyan kept everything to herself for not wanting to drag anyone down with her. All good intentions with bad results, sigh…I do hope she learned from the past because right now she has so many people who care for her.And now Maiyan also got what she wished for, no feelings :depressed:

Anyway, important question: where can I get a gf like Naachan? XD

Of course everyone wants Maiyan. How could they not want such a goddess?I’m up for all kinds of WakaNanaRei as long as it’s not angsty (we have them in real life already) lolI wish there’s real petitions :lol:

“It was my own decision to accept the procedure. As a matter of fact, I was actually the one who asked for it in the first place.”

“Shiraishi-san, in my opinion, this doesn’t make any sense,” the woman in front of her sighed, her fingers lightly tapped the document under her right hand, “why would you want to be in pain? Are you aware that with this kind of procedure you’re only an inch away from death?”

“Yes, I am aware of that. The project leader herself have told me the whole thing beforehand. But at the moment, this is considerably the most effective thing to lure my feelings to come back. Hence, I am taking the risk.”

“You know Shiraishi-san, this is not the only way. The government is willing to help, we want to find another way for you, yet we can’t because the company doesn’t want to let us join the project.”

For a moment their eyes locked into each other, Shiraishi is trying to read the person in front of her which has an expression that shows sympathy and widening eyes that make her looks trustworthy. Shiraishi averted her gaze to the fancy looking board of the meeting room that she’s currently in.

“That’s Nogizaka decision, I have no control over it.”

Thinking that the subject in front of her is finally contemplating about her condition Akimoto Manatsu put on her best smile before saying, “But you’re still a person, Shiraishi-san. You have a control over yourself. Which is why I offer you a chance to have us- the government to independently work on you.”

Shiraishi is trying her best not to sigh upon the offer because before she even entered the room, Hashimoto has already explained several things to her. Including how the government would be offering to take her case independently and what they are actually going to do if she accepts the offer, “I am sorry but I am saying no.”

“We also have resources and have prepared a special team to handle your case, they have also come up with several methods that might work to improve your condition. You see, we think that maybe what could help you the most is to let you go back to normal human life, while we are still going to put you under observation you could do things that you actually want to do which in my opinion is much better than stuck in a building like how you are right now,” she tried to persuade her.

“It does sound good, it is, but I’m still going to say no. Sorry.”

“May I know why?” the woman smile for a slight second turn into a frown.

“Because Nogizaka is my family company and I trust them. Sorry to say this but I trust them more than I trust any other place- including the government.”

“Shiraishi-san, isn’t your reason a bit biased? Let’s think rationally here, you know that our method is better but you’re still sticking to Nogizaka because it belongs to your family.”

Shiraishi inspected the woman in front of her, she’s still young probably younger than her but the way she tried to persuade her is really something else. The way she talks is similar to something that she used to see in her father business talks. Back then that kind of talking method could easily get on her nerves.

“Akimoto-san, was it?” she waited for the other person to nod in confirmation before continuing, “there’s something that I would like to know. What’s in it for you guys?”

“I’m sorry? I don’t understand what you mean.”

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows, if only her emotion is functioning properly she probably would have laughed by now, “I technically grown up around the world of business so I understand how people works. When it comes to a project like this, there have to be something that you guys wants in return. From the first time we start this talk you haven’t mentioned it even once. I could say that I think you’re trying to hide that from me. I’m sorry but I can’t trust that kind of method.”

The woman in front of her seems to be taken aback upon the explanation, she probably had not expected her to think that far.

“We also want the same thing with this company, we think if we could help your problem we could start saving the others who’s still laying on the bed in a vegetable state. It wasn’t my intention to keep it away from you, I’m sorry if you feel that.”

“If that’s so I’m still not going to accept your offer. Let’s think about this logically, if something as simple as that could be left out from our conversation I doubt your people will inform me everything that I deserves to know in the future,” Shiraishi tried to give the other person a little smile, “I have to say, Akimoto-san, talking with you is pretty exhausting. If I have emotions I would probably have gone mad and started to yell at you but well- if I could feel like a normal person we wouldn’t have this conversation in the first place. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Shiraishi stands up and started to walk around the room before stopping near the glass at the end of the room, she silently observes the huge street below the building that leads to the company front gate, “is there anything else, Akimoto-san? Because I would rather go back to my room than to do nothing here.”

“That’s all. Thank you very much for your time. I’m sorry about what happened, however, please do think about the offer. Have a good day,” she said before bowing for several seconds which Shiraishi replied with a slight nod.

The woman who was dressed in a gray business suit and probably the shortest formal skirt that Shiraishi has ever seen almost stumbled because when she open the door suddenly Takayama rush into the room and basically shoving her aside. The android modeler lips are curling into a big grin.

“That was so amazing, Shiraishi-san.” She said excitedly after the door finally closed.

“I was just saying the truth,” Shiraishi’s logic couldn’t understand which part of her conversation that the younger woman considers as amazing.

“You handled her really good. Seriously,” she gave Shiraishi a pat on her back, “come on, let’s go back. Maybe we should celebrate that with something tonight, I mean, aren’t you bored with your usual meal?”

Shiraishi only nodded and let the other person excitedly lead her out from the room. Takayama started talking again but she wasn’t really paying attention since she was preoccupied with observing her surroundings. They’re in a round open space that has several see-through doors on the wall, each door leads to a meeting room. From outside see could see what’s happening inside each of these rooms through their glass door.

The room on her right is occupied with the one who leads her project, Akimoto Manatsu, and several other people that she can’t recognize but she guess that they belong to the same place with the latter. She halted and observes the activity of the room.

However, the one who grabbed her attention is none of the above, instead, she’s staring at another person- a girl that despite her mature and formal gesture is clearly much younger than any other person inside the room. Her long hair that used to reach over her back is has been cut short until it’s barely reaching her shoulder, her left hand is rubbing her temple while her eyes are focused on the document in front of her.

“Shiraishi-san, let’s go, is there anything else that you-” Takayama's voice trailed away when her eyes found the cause of Shiraishi’s sudden freeze.

As if she could somehow sense the two people that are looking at her she averted her gaze from the papers and look straight ahead, her eyes met Shiraishi as her expression turned into a surprised one.

She would probably stare back without doing anything all day if it isn’t for Hashimoto who realized what’s going on with the young director and the subject that’s standing outside the door. The project leader stands up and walked out from the room, blocking the young woman presence from Takayama and Shiraishi vision.

“You should go back to your room, Shiraishi-san. Takayama-san is the one that’s supposed to bring you back to your room so there’s no need to wait. I’ll be there after I am finished with the meeting,” she looked more towards Takayama than the subject.

“Right, I’m really sorry if I interrupt your meeting, Hashimoto-san. We’re going back now,” Takayama apologized and tugged Shiraishi’s hand to give her a sign that they should be walking back.

But instead of responding to Takayama silent order she asked, “Is that Ikuta Erika?”

“Yes. It is her,” it took Hashimoto several seconds before finally decided that there’s no point in hiding it from the subject anyway, “go back to your room, Shiraishi-san. Your drugs should start taking effect in less than an hour, it’s not safe for you to be wandering outside this time.”

As much as she wanted to argue and say something else to be able to meet her step sister she realized that the young woman is still in the middle of meeting and she shouldn’t be disturbing her, so she tried to tell herself that she should be grateful enough to see her doing well and do what they told her to.

“Okay. I’m sorry for disturbing you, Hashimoto-san.” She said as she let Takayama lead her by the hand towards the elevator.

Since they’re practically still in the same part of building with where the research division is, they only need to take the elevator to go up to be able to reach the place but still there are 3 men who were tasked to escort them back. Shiraishi wondered whether something happened or whether they think she would try to run away from the building because back before she got into the accident usually she only got one person to escort her around the building.

Nevertheless, she keep her silence throughout their short walks and tried to give the men a polite smile following Takayama simple thanks for their assistance before opening the door towards the observation room.

“Is everything okay?” A voice suddenly heard before Shiraishi could even step inside the room, her eyes met with a pair of worried ones.

“It’s more than okay, it went really smooth,” Takayama replied with a big grin, Shiraishi could tell that the android modeler excitement starting to build up once more.

“See? There’s nothing to be worried about,” Shiraishi tried to ease the girl anxiety as she put both of her hands in each of her shoulders and gave her an assuring smile, “Nanase, should you be at work this time?”

She remembered that the night before the once again her girlfriend had mentioned that she needs to go the animation studio today and would visit her later on the evening but right now it’s an hour passed midday and she’s already present.

“Turns out the meeting ended up to be quicker than it usually is. Come on, let’s get you back to your room,” she said as she shrugged the other girl’s hand from her shoulder, taking her hand with her, and lead her to the door in the corner of the room.

“You guys go on first, I’ll be waiting for Fukagawa-san first,” Takayama said when she realized that her childhood friend is waiting for her to come along.

Nishino only nodded and put her visitor card into the scanner machine in order to open the door, she lets Shiraishi enter the room first before she follows suit. She went straight to the sofa, her eyes never leaving the subject until she disappeared into the bathroom.

It doesn’t take long until Nishino heard some movement coming towards her and she turns her head to look at the girl who has changed from her white metallic dress to a simple plain white tee with matching knee-length pants.

“Your hands is getting cold,” Nishino marked as she holds the girl's hand and gently pulled her to sit right next to her.

“I had my meds earlier this morning, the effect should start kicking in around this time,” Shiraishi explained.

5 days hasn’t even passed since the time Shiraishi asked to start over, but being physically closer to the girl has made Nishino noticed several things that she didn’t before. Like, how the other girl is actually less talkative than how she used to be but seems to be paying more attention to her surroundings, or when the meds is out of her system Shiraishi got easily interested in something even though she’d get over it as quickly as she get into it in the first place because of her lack of capability to truly enjoy something.

Nishino also noticed that Shiraishi’s body temperature would decrease whenever the meds started to kick in, there was a time where this will be followed by a really bad tremor but over the last two days, the scientists have been able to get this particular side effect under control.

She touched Shiraishi cheek with the back of her hand, waited a little bit before moving her hand to the girl's forehead, concern started to grow inside her, “I think you should be laying on the bed.”

However, the other girl shook her head in refusal before she leans her head towards Nishino’s shoulder, her forehead is touching the girl’s right shoulder blade. Shiraishi clearly heard her girlfriend sighing upon her stubbornness. Nishino doesn’t want to admit it out loud but she thinks that Shiraishi will get another breakdown soon, which in worst case would lead the girl to scream in pain, more likely to the extent where the scientists would decide to doze her off.

Nishino feel relieved when she heard the soft sounds of the door slide opened followed by the sound of footsteps approaching them. It was Fukagawa and Takayama, the former silently sit next to Shiraishi and touched the girl’s back of the neck, “Shiraishi-san, do you feel any pain?”

“Just a bit dizzy, I’ll be fine,” the subject replied between her inconsistent breathing.

“Shall we get her back to the bed?” Takayama asked.

“Can I just- stay like this? On the bed… it’s uncomfortable.”

Takayama and Nishino look at Fukagawa, knowing that the older woman is the one who is more suitable to make the decision, “fine. I’ll get you some aspirins.”

Despite how Shiraishi has been able to feel something with the help of the drugs, her state is still far from okay because the most prominent emotions that she has shown are sadness, anger, and fear. Sakurai theorized that this is most likely the reason for Shiraishi to unconsciously blocked out her emotions once the drugs wear off, her mind is merely doing self-defense from those painful feeling.

A might be possible solution for this problem is to have her experience a great impact of positive emotion so her unconsciousness could realize that it’s okay to feel but it’s even much harder than how it sounds because no matter what they did to make Shiraishi happy the despair will still be there and waited for the moment it could finally take its turn to bring Shiraishi down.

Nishino could only watch as her girlfriend obediently gulped down the painkiller. Several seconds after that the girl lay back to the sofa and lean her head to the side where Nishino’s shoulder is. Takayama passed Nishino a blanket, which without needing any explanation she knows that it meant for the one besides her.

“I don’t get it,” Shiraishi gripped the blanket tightly as if she felt cold.

“Maiyan, what’s wrong?” Nishino carefully asked.

“Why would Erika bother with me after what happened?” It doesn’t take long until she could finally hear a faint sob coming from Shiraishi, “I mean she doesn’t even want to talk with me, but she also bothers herself with this project.”

Nishino directed her gaze to Takayama, her gut feelings were right, something has happened. Takayama silently mouthed an apology for not telling her about the matter.

“Well, I’m sure that Ikuta-san actually wants to talk with you but still thinking of a proper way to do that. From my time working for her, I can say that she’s much more mature than her age. Since she’s well aware of your conditions. That’s why perhaps she’s worried that talking with Shiraishi-san will only add an unneeded pressure, considering what had happened between the two of you,” Fukagawa tried to speak her mind while hoping that the subject will understand.

“I miss her,” Shiraishi took a deep breath, “I still haven’t talked to her after that.”

“I- I’ll try to speak with Erika-chan about this. In the meantime, do not think about that and focus on getting better, okay?” Nishino tried to calm the other girl down, her hands reached for hers and hold it gently.

She had asked Sakurai so many questions about Shiraishi has learned that the girl is blaming herself for things that have happened. What makes it a problem is that despite having such thoughts in her mind Shiraishi couldn’t express it properly, which is why once her emotion started to work her brain would overwork itself to let everything out all at once.

Nishino understands well about Ikuta’s reason for not wanting to talk to her sister. A lot has happened from the moment Shiraishi got into the accident, some of them would only make Shiraishi blame herself even more, which is something that Ikuta doesn’t want to ever happen. Nishino unconsciously tugged her long sleeved stripe shirt until it covers half of her palm. From the way, Shiraishi slowly calms down and how she’s struggling to keep her eyes open Nishino realized that Fukagawa had given the girl a pretty strong sleeping pills instead of the normal painkillers.

“Nanase, talk to me,” Shiraishi demanded as she again managed to vent herself from falling asleep.

“About what?” the girl asked looking to her side and meet the subject watery eyes, “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the bed? Isn’t sitting like this more uncomfortable?”

“I spent more than half of my time on the bed. I’m sick of it. Do I make you uncomfortable?”

Nishino raised her eyebrows doesn’t really understand why would the other girl make her uncomfortable.

“I mean with me leaning on your shoulder. Is it uncomfortable for you?” Shiraishi explained.

“No.” Nishino simply replied with the truth. She wouldn’t admit it but she did miss Shiraishi a lot so a part of her is really happy that the girl prefers the position where they are closer to each other.

“I’m glad you’re not,” Shiraishi said, “I really do feel it. I mean I can really feel gratefulness. I’m not just saying that out of logic.”

“Good then,” Nishino looked to her side and their eyes met, “I’m also glad that you’re getting better.”

Shiraishi made a slight humming sound as she averted her eyes away and bit one side of her bottom lip. Despite not looking at her, the other girl is keeping her posture facing Nishino, which makes Nishino wonder about what the girl is currently thinking of. Shiraishi took a deep breath and directed her vision is back to the girl beside her, her gaze lingers on the girl’s lips much longer than it should be.

Before Nishino could comprehend the other girl intention the gap between the two of them has become nonexistent as she feels soft yet cold lips touching hers.

It was too sudden to the point that Nishino’s hands which somehow had found Shiraishi's shoulders moved forward in order to push the girl away.

Nishino looked at the other two persons that are also present in the room. Both Takayama and Fukagawa eyes are glued into each of their tablets, they are so immersed in their work and show no sign of being aware of what just happened.

“I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” Shiraishi quickly regretted her action, “You see, I... had a talk with Sakurai-san and she told me to try doing that.”

Nishino is still trying to sort her thoughts after the kiss could only nod, a part of her feel a bit sad to hear the reason behind the other girl action yet she can’t blame the girl or Sakurai because it’s something that might help the girl condition and having Shiraishi back to normal is her top priority.

“I’m going to the bed, I can’t think clearly,” the girl sighed, thinking that it's the most appropriate thing to do because Nishino is not going to say something else about the matter and the situation is getting more awkward which is making her uncomfortable.

Once she started to walk the dizziness that she thought had left her came back once more, almost causing her loose her balance if it’s not for Nishino who is following her from behind noticed her struggle with balance and became her support.

“Is the headache back?” Nishino asked as she leads her back to the bed.

“It’s not bad, I can still handle it,” she said the truth and tried to add something in order to make the Nishino stop worrying too much, “I’ll be fine after laying down, I guess.”

She took off her warm slippers before getting on the pretty rigid mattress, closing her eyes as soon as her head touched the soft fabric of the white sheet.

“Thanks,” she said when Nishino helped her to pull the blanket up. The girl gave her a little smile in return and proceed to pull a chair to the bedside.

“Tell me if you need anything, okay?”

Shiraishi smiled and nodded in return, “the way you said that it’s pretty similar with people who’s working on me.”

“Maybe I should send an application to work here,” Nishino chuckled. Her hand reached for Shiraishi’s that’s hidden beneath the blanket, the older girl intertwined their fingers as she smiled along.

“Umm…. Maiyan, about before.”

“I know I sh-“ she didn't continue her words because she's kind of lost her voice when she noticed that Nishino is leaning closer to her.

It was just a simple peck on her cheek that probably last a little bit longer than their last kiss that she had regretted deeply.

When Nishino finally leaned back Shiraishi noticed that the girl is smiling, the kind of smile where her lips are closed to form a balanced curved line. She locked her eyes with the girl in front of her who seems to be in a flabbergasted state because of her little action.

“Maiyan, about what you did before, you actually don’t need to be sorry about that.”

~To Be Continued~

AN:Another longer than usual update and yes I'm talking about both the word count and working time. Over the last 3 chap I kept having a problem with where to end the chapter, I hope it's good enough :nervousI also haven't really checked the chapter thoroughly, I'm probably going to do it later :bow:Erika and Maiyan reunion will take place on either the next chap or the chap after that, please look forward to it :D However, I can't promise a quick update because of school projects :sweatdrop:

This will be the last chapter of the year, see you in 2017 :cow: let's hope the next year will be better than this year because imo it's quite hellish :nervous

Replies

wakaten:

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So nanamai already be together 3 years now huh... somehow i want to know how maiyan get into accident.. i want to know ikuchan's reaction and how Naachan take it as maiyan was away from japan..

Damn her father!!!!! I hate him for making maiyan into this... By those pictures and the man and with maiyan say she even dared to pulled strings from behind does thats mean she is doing something not appropriate??? No mai!!!!!!!

Thank you very much for reading the story, I am happy that you love it :DAbout how Maiyan get into accident it will be explained eventually, I'm planning a chapter about people reaction on her accident, so look forward to it ;)It was my intention to write what Maiyan did ambiguously, but yeah she did it. :err:Thanks for the reply :)

ミサキ:

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seems maiyan's life is complicated.. her father is never look at mai's condition. mai can't be like erika who's smart and can manage her hobby and study, she only can focused on 1 thing and sacrifice the other. why didn't he just let mai do what she wants? :( mai is lucky, has nanase that always by her side and keep supporting her^^please make a naachan's story too :D

I think most parents want the best for their children and sometimes what they consider as the best is different than what the child wants...Yeah Mai is really lucky to have Nanase, sometimes I wonder will I ever find someone like her to support myself irl wwwIt's definitely will happen, just be patient because there's a time and place for everything :lol:Thanks for the reply :deco:

wakasama__:

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hm.. did you skip a lovely part about nanamai? I meant when they were become a couple for the first time or maybe I forgot that you had been mention it :nervous :D but don't mind I'm just asking :lol:

I want to know more what has happened..

The part about nanamai as a couple flashback will be included in Naachan chapter, it'll talk mostly about NanaMai and Naachan more about Naachan own problem :glasses:I assure you that there are still several flashback that will come XDThanks for the reply :cow:

weirdasspotatoe:

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I swear this gets super duper interesting haha.It's really sad to hear Maiyan's story and it is sadder to see her condition now. If only her father would as much as appreciate what she wants to pursue. Thank you for the update author-san! In the meantime I would be patiently waiting for the next update and it would be nice to see a bit of a MaiNana flashback before this accident somewhere in the future chapters haha. Keep up the awesome work! :twothumbs

I'm glad that you feel so XDAnd about NanaMai flashback I assure you that there will be, but be patient okay :lol:Thanks for the reply :hip smile:

C:

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Softball Maiyan never gets old :yep:I can understand her jealousy, Iku-chan really is something else.IkuMai sisters supporting each other is :luvluv2:

I had a feeling Maiyan’s past gonna be like this. Poor Maiyan, she’s just trying to find herself and where she belongs.Why do I get the feeling her father was the one who sabotaged the whole thing so Maiyan can’t get the role?I suppose what made everything worsen was she was doing everything by herself even though she has Naachan by her side. But I doubt with her personality/stubbornness she would ask anyone for help let alone her own girlfriend.

I feel like a total sadist to write that kind of story for my oshi :twisted:I was trying to imply that her father is the saboteur, so your feeling wasn't wrong :thumbsupMaiyan is not someone who will ask for others help because she doesn't want to burden them so you're right about her :nervous

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I’m blaming all this mess on Maiyan’s father!! (Not really) But in a way, I can see some Maiyan in him. Like how both of them decided what’s best for the other without actually talking to others involved who will directly/indirectly be impacted by their decision. Her father wanted her to follow his lead for a better life, while Maiyan kept everything to herself for not wanting to drag anyone down with her. All good intentions with bad results, sigh…

Blame Maiyan father for passing his personality genes on her XD But it's true that his intention is actually good, it's just that he doesn't actually understand his own daughter enough to make her understand :(

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I do hope she learned from the past because right now she has so many people who care for her.And now Maiyan also got what she wished for, no feelings :depressed:

Maybe they should ask Manatsu for help, after all by only meeting her for a while Kuroishi already wanted to come out. And here they were thinking of ways how to make Maiyan feel emotions again when what they need might just be Manattan :lol:Anyway, Waka wasn't in the meeting with the government? I will be thinking that Nogibingo ep if WakaRei ever meets with Manatsu XD

Somehow I’m glad Kazumin is warming up to Maiyan.This whole no-feeling Maiyan is in a way like she was in a depressed state with all those bad emotions. And yet, the stubbornness still remains.Nooooo IkuMai </3 I wonder what else happened….

Darn it, Maiyan. What did you do in the past live for you to be this lucky to be surrounded by people who love you that won’t just give up, huh?I want to see more of NanaMai’s relationship in the past to compare, to see if this “android” Maiyan is actually better for their relationship now because she cannot easily do something stupid by impulse (yet) that might kept them apart like in the past.

It’s hard not be jealous of Ikuchan, she has so many talents, she’s like a genius (is she?)Many authors tend to “torture” their fav chara in their fic. It's an author thing?Speaking of Maiyan’s father, where is he currently?Ikr? Naachan is practically the perfect girlfriend. And there’s also MaiMai the perfect wife material. The other NanaMai (NanaminxMaiyan) is so lucky. How to be one of them? :mon scratch:LOL

heh.... I cant believe I have not leave a comment for chapter X.5 -___-

ah.... so that's what happened to Maiyan and Ikuchan's relationship. it's really complicated, huh?? Maiyan didnt want other people to know about her problems, even her girlfriend. heh.....

well, I cant wait for Ikumai to finally meet up >...<

And finalllyyyyyyy NanaMai kisssssss :shy2: :shy2: :imdead: :imdead: :imdead: so cute >.< but it kind of sad tho because Maiyan did that just because of Reika's suggestion. but it's still a kiss btw :shy1: :shy1:

and by the way, I see Maiyan was crying when she talk about missing Ikuchan with Nanase there, does that mean that her feelings has started to come back??? isn't that considered as a success??

I hope you will talk more about NanaMai's moments and their past too. I'm really looking forward for it ^_^

The sound of her flat oxford shoes stepping quickly from room to room seems to gain attention in the building, yet she didn’t spend even a second to look anywhere else but what’s in front of her. When she finally reached the lobby of the research division her eyes met with one of the ladies on the front table.

“Where is she?” the young girl asked trying to ignore the discomfort she’s feeling from her body that has started to sweat.

“Room 046,” the lady pulled one of the drawers on the desk and took out one silver card and place it on the desk between them, “you may use this card for now. Also if you’d like to, you can leave yours here so I can contact the building security team to grant yours the permanent access.”

She took the card and replace it with hers just like how the older woman told her to, “please do.”

“I will,” the lady give the card a quick inspection, “Ikuta-san, my condolences for your loss. I may not have known your father personally, but I know that he was a great man. May he rest in peace.”

Ikuta nodded in acknowledgment, trying not to think about how many times she has heard that words today and how many times she have chosen to answer with silence. She knows the chances are high for her to sound bitter if she tries to give the woman a reply.

Without needing the help from the woman, she knows which direction she has to go to reach the room, so without saying anything else she moved her legs towards where the room is.

The sound of the door clicked open managed to make her hold her breath in anticipation. The room light was deemed but as soon as the floor detected her presence the bulb intensity increased automatically.

A part of her actually wished that she’d find the room empty- without all the machines, screens, or the half cylindrical object that she thought will never get to be operated anymore. Her hand unconsciously move forward and touched the cold glass of the object while her eyes are trying to get away from the sight of the human inside.

She took a deep breath to clear her clouded mind before finally looking straight to the face beneath the glass.

“Why are you here?” She asked even though she knows that there will be no answer.

No matter how much she tried to focus on the person's face her eyes are drawn to many stitches across her figure. Back when the person was still in the hospital she has never tried to look beneath the cover, she had no courage to, seeing scars on the person used-to-be-flawless face was already hard enough for her. But now that the other girl is inside a full glass aquarium, there wasn’t anything to hide those frightening sutures from her eyes.

“There’s nothing left for you here, Nee-chan,” she felt a bit weird after to say the last word, realizing that it has been years since the last time the word came out from her mouth.

Ikuta wonders why the man that she has considered her own father kept this away from her. Was it because she’d probably ask him to stop or was it because he didn’t trust her enough to handle his one and only biological child?

Nevertheless, the man still bequeaths his share of nogizaka company to her.

The young girl leaned her head forward till her forehead meets the cold glass, so many things have happened in less than 24 hours, she also didn’t have any sleep last night.

Everything is tiresome.

She tried not to think about the first and last argument she has ever had with her step-father, it happened when the older girl was declared dead and her father asked them to crucify her as soon as possible, he didn’t seem to be bothered to pay the deceased girl some respect by having the Matsugo-no-Mitsu or any other proper burial ritual, so of course she was against his way. Now she realized that it was all because the man is trying to cover the fact that his daughter hasn’t actually died.

She moved her vision into the tablet next to the glass, not long after that- her body followed, taking a few step to close her distance with the thin object. Her hands have started to move on its own- grazing the surface to navigate the screen.

Itsekäs, that was the name that she came up with. It is a Finnish term for selfish. She realized that the machine purpose is to force someone to live despite supposing to draw their last breath, making it a machine to fulfill the selfish desire of other human being around to keep the person alive, hence the name.

It will be easy for her to stop all the life support that’s keeping the girl inside the chemical water alive, after all, she was the one who invented the machine. The procedure will be quick and after that, the girl wouldn’t need to suffer anymore, her sister could finally go to where she should have been gone.

However, her fingers freeze an inch away from confirming procedure. No matter how much she retells herself that she have every right to stop the machine from operating or that would be the best decision since even though the girl miraculously managed to wake up from the slumber everything wouldn’t be the same.

The soft sliding sound distracts her from debating herself. She watches as a short haired young woman approaches, she’s probably around her sister age, her simple black dress and coat notify that she most likely came after attending the funeral as well.

“You shouldn’t be here. This is beyond your authority.” Ikuta eyed the other girl bronze tag that clearly means that she’s only an intern. Even so, the name isn’t unfamiliar to her. She has read many theses based on the girl research, she even thinks that her latest theory about the possibility of moving active human brain to a new host is really great and interesting. But still being renowned doesn’t give her the right to enter the research room.

The young girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “that’s also not something that you supposed to know.”

“Before I dwell further, I would like to say my apology. Ikuta-san, I believe my conversation with your father is what caused his health to deteriorate.”

Then everything clicks in her head, the reason for her father sudden cardiac arrest and why the person next to her have an access to the room in the first place, “what did you do?”

The other girl sighed before gazing at the form behind the glass, “your father asked me to prove my theory by reviving her. I turn down his demand.”

“Why so?” It was no surprise for her that the man was asking for the other girl’s help, however, the rejection is a bit surprising.

“I just couldn’t bear the thought that it is his own child that I’ll be working on. I think I wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure.”

The man wasn’t actually one that handles rejection well, or rather he’s not used to rejection. The scientist didn’t lie, she was basically the cause of her boss death.

“Do you regret it? Turning down the offer?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” the intern admitted truthfully.

Ikuta look up to see her sister face whom she cares dearly. That was the moment when she realized that even though her mind is saying that she should let her go she will never be able to do it herself.

“Hashimoto-san, I have no idea whether this has spread to public or not but I’m letting you know either way. I am inheriting my step-father’s share of this company and I am also appointed as his successor- the next CEO.”

Hashimoto looked at her in confusion, her mind couldn’t fathom the reason for the young girl to suddenly share the situation with her, after several seconds of contemplating, she decided to say something, “I think you can do it just fine, Ikuta-san.”

“As someone who owns this company and also the CEO, I am giving you two options for your next task.” Ikuta took a deep breath before elaborating, “The first one is to use your theory to lead a project where you will try to revive her, I promise this division will support your every need. Or you could choose to reject the offer which would lead you to the next option which is where you will be in charge of stopping all this machine from operating as well as cleaning out the room because it is going to be used for another project.”

The intern is looking at her in disbelieves while Ikuta has averted her gaze back to the small tablet screen after finishing her own words. To tell the truth the young girl understands that she’s putting her responsibility into someone else and this isn’t the first time she does it. She understands well that her actions are cowardice and unfair. However, she is not brave enough from refraining herself to stop doing so.

Her intelligence might exceed superior human being, placing her on par with geniuses human in the world, but she's not perfect. She can’t be perfect.

“I will do it.”

The short haired wondered about her reason to choose the first option back then. Was it because she was afraid of having another guilt of technically killing someone? Was it because she didn’t want to lose her job? Or was it because she pitied the young girl for having to make a critical decision for the only person that she has left?

“Is she going to be okay?” came a concerned whisper from beside her, breaking Hashimoto from reminiscing her past.

Hashimoto followed the person vision, finding the division director looking blankly at the white door that will lead her to her step sister. She was lost in her thought before so she doesn’t know how long the girl has been standing still like that, but from Fukagawa question she believed that it has been quite a while.

Hashimoto wanted to urge the girl to enter the room but she knows that it is not a simple step for her. The young girl has basically entrusted her sister’s life into someone else, trying to keep her heart closed upon its problem. To tell the truth, Hashimoto think that director is still too young to bear such a huge responsibility and she knows that the young girl realized that as well, hence the reason for her to hand over the CEO position to her father most trusted man, but even so Ikuta still feel like she should be responsible enough for her sister well-being so she took her place as the division leader.

Today the young director has ditched her usual formal business outfit and opted to wear a red and black checkered dress. Nobody told her to do so, she just thought that it will be better if she looks like just a normal girl visiting her sister instead of a huge company director. After all that what she is going to do today.

Visit her step-sister.

Her left hand squeezed a bag of cronuts that she had bought on the way to the building while the right one has been hovering over the finger scan surface for a while. She stole a glance to the person standing a few meters on her left. She feels the need to make sure that the older woman has already told her everything that she needs to know, but the psychologist was lost in her own train of thoughts to notice her.

Ikuta closed her eyes for a few moments to clear her mind before finally her fingers touched the scanned and the door opened.

Shiraishi Mai was staring at the television screen without any interest when Ikuta walks in, even with the drugs on her system trying to feel something from the what the flat screen is showing is still quite hard for her, well unless it’s horror film, she had started to get back to being afraid of it, even for just a little bit.

She was totally surprised when she turned to look at the person who had just entered the room and see the young girl instead of the people that usually pay her a visit.

“Erika…”

“Before you say anything, allow me to start first.” She said as she put down the patisserie paper bag on the table, then she turned her side to be able to face the older girl who is sitting on the sofa, “what happened back then wasn’t actually your fault. That was mine. I was inconsiderate. You are right that I need to grow up.”

“I wasn’t thinking about the competition at all. Even though I know how hard you had been working for that. I’m sorry,” the one on the sofa said before standing up so she could see the younger girl on the same wavelength.

She has been trying to bury the whole problem for so long that she kind of have forgotten that the competition is the main reason for her to ignore the older girl back then. How childish of her, it’s not like she will ever be a true pianist anyway.

“No, it wasn’t your fault. You were in a tough position, I should’ve tried to listen, I am sorry. I also said that you were never my sister in the first place, I’m sorry,” the young girl said as she used her index finger to wipe away a drop of tear that managed to slip out from her eye, “I was so dumb, I didn’t even realize that you’re the only one that I have until you were on the brink of death.”

“Erika, that’s not true. You’re not dumb. It’s because of you I’m now standing here right now, am I wrong?”

However, the young girl shook her head from left to right in response, her eyes have stopped making a contact with the other girl and opt to see the floor instead, “it wasn’t me… It was- Hashimoto-san.”

When was the last time she cried? Somehow her brain couldn’t remember, it seems like it’s been too long. She didn’t shed a tear when her stepfather passed away, she also didn’t when she attended her step sister’s turns-out-to-be-fake funeral, she had always run back to her projects whenever she felt like the tears are going to come out. She always thinks that crying wouldn’t benefit her circumstances. It’s just a waste of time and it’s only going to tire her out.

However, she felt a hand on the back of her head, pulling her forward to the person in front of her, another hand patted her back several times as if telling her that it’s okay to let it out. So she did.

“Then, I will say my gratitude to Hashimoto-san when I see her,” the older girl voice is so soft that it could actually be called a whisper, “Hashimoto-san told me about what you did. Erika is the one who urged her to take this project, right? I can’t say it before because of the circumstances but now that I’m getting better I can say that I’m thankful that you did. I really do.”

Shiraishi broke their hug so she could see the other girl face properly, “Erika is my little sister. Well, I am stubborn being so no matter what Erika or other people said it will never change. Erika will always be my little sister. The one and only.”

Her voice broke at the end of her sentences as her eyes started to water as well. It hurts, crying always hurts her, whenever she’s started to be able to feel more human the invisible hammer in her head would start to activate itself again. But Shiraishi took a deep breath before exhaling harshly her way of averting herself from the pain.

“To Erika, I have said a lot of things that I actually regret… I even thought that it will be better if you don’t think of me as your sister anymore, which is something that I also regret… Apart from you, I don’t really have someone to that I could call my family. So I am thankful that you are giving me a second chance to properly said my apology and to try to be a better sister than before.”

The other girl wiped her tears once more before hugging the older girl again, “Nee-chan doesn’t have to try. You could be the worst person on the earth and you are still going to be my sister.”

“Good but please tell me if I am going out of line, okay? It will be really ungrateful if a person who’s supposed to be dead became the worst person on earth,” Shiraishi chuckled a little, her step-sister followed her after a moment, and somehow hearing the soft chuckles of the younger girl makes her feel better. As if Ikuta and Nishino are actually the best therapy for her. She managed to smile a little realizing how lucky she is to have them in her life.

Ikuta has also realized that even though her words turned out to be some kind of joke it wasn’t actually false. She didn’t realize it before but no matter what happens Shiraishi Mai will always be Ikuta Erika’s older sister. Even If Shiraishi had actually died from the accident, even if there was no way to wake her up from the comatose state, or even if she’s merely an android who is incapable of feeling something on her own.

And realizing that she’s actually in front of her, breathing, and living makes Ikuta feels like she’s not alone.

Not anymore.

~To Be Continued~

AN: Finally managed to release this chapter. This is really Iku-chan centric and I originally planned to release it on her birthday, but my real life situation has a different plan. I hope you don't mind the really late update :peace:

That aside, I got really really busy with uni stuff nowadays, I actually started to doubt myself to be able to finish Sayonara No Imi story on Nanamin graduation day. I will still write it, but if there's someone who is also thinking of writing it please do it. Don't hesitate because of me :) They say two is better than one, right?

Also, I noticed that the viewer count has reached 4k. Thank you very much :bow:

Moving on to the replies

@C:

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Anyway, Waka wasn't in the meeting with the government? I will be thinking that Nogibingo ep if WakaRei ever meets with Manatsu XD

Actually ,Waka is supposed to be in the meeting with the government, I didn't mention it because I thought having so many characters at once will be more confusing because the focus supposed to be to Maiyan and Ikuchan on that part. Noo... don't.... Waka here will realize how scheming Manatsu here so she wouldn't even bother XD

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This whole no-feeling Maiyan is in a way like she was in a depressed state with all those bad emotions. And yet, the stubbornness still remains.Nooooo IkuMai </3 I wonder what else happened….

Yep yep she is. It's actually more of a psychological problem than physical, that's why they need Reika too... And you got to find out what happened between IkuMai here. For now, IkuMai problem is already solved.

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It’s hard not be jealous of Ikuchan, she has so many talents, she’s like a genius (is she?)Many authors tend to “torture” their fav chara in their fic. It's an author thing?Speaking of Maiyan’s father, where is he currently?

Ikuchan is definitely a genius :D. Lol, now that you mentioned it, I think it's true, I tend to torture my fav chara the most :shocked You also got to find out about Maiyan father hereThanks for the comment, come again :lol:

@wakaten:

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somehow, ikuchan and maiyan relationship hurting me. i know ikuchan loves maiyan as much as her, but why she is too cold? pity maiyan.

NanaMai kiss! that sweet, WakaRei should be there too, be the teacher in romance (well that might be disaster)

Ikuchan has done and hide several things so she's trying to be careful. But their relationship will be better from now on :deco:lmao if wakarei is there I believe Reika will teased them while Waka will look at Maiyan with judging look, she's not actually keen on Maiyan in the first place :lol:Thank you for the comment XD

@wakasama:

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nee ikuchan.. Don't be too long. maiyan awaits you. she missed you so much and you too, right? :(

and by the way, I see Maiyan was crying when she talk about missing Ikuchan with Nanase there, does that mean that her feelings has started to come back??? isn't that considered as a success??

I hope you will talk more about NanaMai's moments and their past too. I'm really looking forward for it ^_^

Her feeling are back, even though they basically need to put her under a drug to be able to do so. But she's actually making a huge progress :cow:Please do look forward to it okay :)Thank you for the comment XD

Finally! the most I wait. maiyan and ikuchan finally united again :farofflook: although they are not siblings but I really liked their relationship. as if they were completely fused. ahh This part really provoke emotional :imdead:thanks for update author-san :)

It’s strange when it’s your birthday and you realized that you’re not any different than yourself two years ago. It’s even more strange when you basically skip the last two years because you were unconscious.

PANG!

She heard a sound of the ball hitting the target precisely, she moved back to her first stance and prepare herself for the next ball, her fingers gripped the surface of her old bat.

She eyed the ball thrown by the machine in front of her, inhaling some air before swinging her for the countless time today. Even though it’s already dark, the weather in august is moderately warm so it doesn’t bother her much, furthermore, at night, the people in the building wouldn’t pay attention to what’s happening in the company garden.

PANG!

It took around an hour for her to re-familiarize herself with the sport but now she started to feel like her old self as she swung the bat and hit the ball one by one flawlessly. Actually, it really feels good, like she could actually avert her mind from thinking things that will only hurt her. However, the moment seems wouldn’t last any longer because Hashimoto Nanami came and turn off the machine.

“When I said that it is okay for you to do some batting I didn’t mean that you should do it for more than 2hours non-stop,” she said, despite her tone of annoyance Shiraishi could somehow hear a bit of worry.

“Sorry I lost my track of time,” the birthday girl apologized and went to the nearest bench where she had put a bottle of cold water, gulping down half of the refreshing liquid to rehydrate herself. The project leader sighed and hands her a towel to wipe her sweats.

“Do tell one of us if you’re feeling sore or something. You see, your body is artificial, so it’s important to keep in mind that it is also meant that it is even more fragile.”

Shiraishi nodded in acknowledgment telling herself that she should have been more aware of that, “so I think should go back to my room now, it’s already late, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’ll come along. Have you eaten your dinner?” Hashimoto asked as she walks within a reachable distance beside her.

“Not yet, I’m actually still a bit full because Erika-chan visited with a pretty huge cake earlier.”

She smiled remembering how excited the young girl was when eating a huge slice of red velvet cake, too bad that sister of her will be having an overseas meeting tomorrow morning, making it impossible for her to stick much longer because she has to leave the city tonight.

“Oh, right. Happy birthday,” the person beside her said, despite the lighter tone her expression is still as serious as before, “Anyway, have Fukagawa-san told you about how your body will work towards aging?”

“She told me a few days ago. I’m not going to look older, right? It’s not that bad, at least it will save me from buying any anti-aging products,” she joked.

Hashimoto smiled a little, before stop walking and pressed the button of the elevator, “true.”

That’s not actually all good, despite her form that wouldn’t change her organs will still grow old. Furthermore, since her brain is basically the only non-artificial thing in her system it must help the other organs to work so there’s a huge chance of it to age at a faster rate than normal humans, which is going to make her live a shorter life than how normal humans supposed to. Not to mention that the drugs that she has been taking are also not that good for her insides.

Well, if it’s not for this project she would have been dead so she’s not going to complain.

It doesn’t take long for one of the elevator doors to open for them to use. Once the door has closed Shiraishi was lost in thought of her condition and another thing that has been bugging her mind since this morning. She looked at Hashimoto, realizing that she has always admired how the person has always looked so composed and have everything under control.

“Hashimoto-san, would you mind if I ask for your opinion?”

Hashimoto raised her eyebrows, “sure. But if it is something that’s supposed to be private I think we should talk once we got back in your room.”

Shiraishi looked behind her where two men with a dark uniform are standing, as usual, they wouldn’t let her walk around without at least two of that kind of people tailing her. She wonders if they will ever let her be truly alone outside of the room, “we’ll talk about it later then.”

Well after they reach the room she decided to push the conversation later since she obviously smells after sweating so much from over-exercising her body, also Nishino will come later tonight and of course, she wouldn’t want to gross her girlfriend out, so that’s why she went straight to the shower as soon as possible.

“You know, I was just wondering. What if this is my limit?” She asked as soon as she got out from the shower.

The short haired looks a little bit confused about her statement, “your limit on what?”

“On my progress. Like, I wouldn’t be able to go any further anymore, to be able to detach myself from the drugs.”

It’s understandable for the girl to think so, while it’s true that they have managed to press the dosage of the drugs a little bit and decrease the side effect headache to the point that it’s bearable, but that was around 2 weeks ago and since then they have not step any further than that.

“I don’t know if you are already on your limit or not. All I can say is I’ll try to help you as long as you will let me. It’s actually up to you whether you still want to continue or not.”

“It’s not that I want to stop, but I was thinking that maybe I should start to figure out what am I going to do next. Because I can’t be a test subject forever, even if I can- I don’t want to. I want to go out and try to live like a normal person again. But then, I don’t know if I will ever be able to be free from this facility.”

Hashimoto think for a moment, knowing that she has to be extra careful in choosing her words so she wouldn’t be giving the girl a false hope, “I think even if we allow you to live outside we will still have to monitor you constantly, also I don’t think it’s possible for you to be living alone. If you really want to we can talk to Ikuta-san and the others about this matter. If they agree we might be able to arrange something.”

“But… Do you think it’ll be fine?”

“From my professional opinion, no, but from my own personal view I think you should.”

Shiraishi got lost in her thought, starting to have a second thought about asking to leave the place she’s in. Her eyes catch a thin white phone in front of the table, her hands move to reach the object, carefully navigating to see the notification mentioning that someone just sent her a Line message.

She had received the phone earlier today, it’s sort of a birthday gift from her step-sister who thinks that she will need it to be able to contact people.

The truth is most people that she knew thinks she’s dead and even if they somewhat realize that she’s the girl who has been revived from death she still doesn’t have any urge to talk to them, even if it’s just from a simple online chat. So. in the end what she has in her contact list are the 3 scientists who work on her, as well as Ikuta, Sakurai, and of course- Nishino.

She frowned as she read the chat which came from Nishino. Around 15 minutes ago the girl sent her a message, saying that she’s already at Nogizaka and will be here soon. Shiraishi turns to look at the huge mirror in the room, wondering whether the girl is already there or not.

“Is something wrong?” the short-haired asked, realizing that the subject has been stealing glances to the reflecting object every now and then.

“No- it’s ju-” she didn’t finish her sentence because her focus quickly changed to the sound of the door sliding open, revealing the one that she was looking for carrying a takeout bag with the name of a restaurant that she is familiar with written on it.

“I bought some pasta, you haven’t eaten your dinner, have you?” the girl asked, followed by a simple shook and little smile from the one she questioned.

Nishino went to put the bag on the top of the small 2-person dining table that the room has, carefully pulling out some plates that she has to borrow earlier from the building.

“Anyway, it’s already pretty late so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Also, Nishino-san, are you going to stay over here tonight?” Hashimoto asked as she stood up to approach the visitor.

“If Maiyan wants me to. What do you think, Maiyan?”

Shiraishi stared at the two with a total confusion, her mind clearly wasn’t expecting this since Hashimoto is usually pretty strict on not letting a visitor stay over, probably afraid that she won’t get any rest. Not to mention the other factor concerning one from two persons that her girlfriend is staying with.

“Is it okay?”

“Just for tonight. Consider it a birthday present from me since I don’t prepare anything,” the project leader replied.

“This is already more than enough. Thanks a lot, Hashimoto-san.”

The short haired just shrugged before stepping away, “well if that’s so, good night.”

“Don’t you want to join us? I bought enough for 4 people,” Nishino asked before the person could leave the room.

“I already have my dinner earlier, so I’m not going to join you two. But thanks for the offer, enjoy your dinner,” she politely turned down the offer before opening the door and step out.

Shiraishi watches until the door finally closed, leaving just her and Nishino in the room, she stood up to get two cups of water for them, placing it on each side of the dining table before sitting in one chair, patiently wait until Nishino finish moving the food from takeout box to plates and place the trash away to be taken out later.

They both did the usual gesture of gratitude before starting to eat. They did talk a little bit about the food on the table, but the conversation is short lived, which is fine with Shiraishi since she herself is also reminiscing the food from her one of her favorite restaurants.

It’s not long before they finish their plate and Nishino had to left the room for a moment to put the dishes and trash away, which left Shiraishi with nothing else to do, she ended up taking initiative to prepare the sofa of the room into some sort of bed. Good thing Hashimoto often spend the night so she already knew where to find the extra pillow and blanket.

“You really don’t have to, I can do it myself,” Nishino said as she came into the room.

“It’s fine since you’re basically my guest so I should be the one doing this.”

“Okay then.” She nodded while keeping both of her hand hidden on the back. The younger girl stops just 3 steps away from the one who had just placed a blanket on top of the sofa and carefully show a small silver box that she has been hiding, “happy birthday, Maiyan.”

Shiraishi took the box from the girl’s hand, hoping that she would look a bit surprised because she doesn’t. It was like their old routine to have a dinner followed by giving present on each other birthday so it was really obvious, but still, she thinks it is cute how Nishino always tried to hide it.

Her fingers work their way to unbind the pink colored little ribbon that kept the box closed before finally took off the upper part to show what’s inside. The girl smile widened as her eyes met with a silver necklace that has two things attached to it. One of it is a simple rose gold letter M pendant and the other one is a silver ring that she has seen and wore before. Slowly she held up the ring to check the thin inscription on the inner part which is a combination of 4 numbers followed by the name of the person in front of her, “you managed to save it.”

“Erika-chan gave it to me back then,” Nishino explained trying not to remember how bloody it the ring was when the young girl had put it on her palm. Her eyes moved to her right ring finger where a similar ring is worn, “It’s actually not much but I think the necklace would suit you”

“This is perfect,” Shiraishi said with a huge smile, her eyes has gotten a bit watery as she reached for the back of her neck to wear the necklace, Nishino realized the girl struggle and help her to complete the task, “thank you so much.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Nishino said as she moved to be able to see how Shiraishi had somehow managed to make the necklace looks a lot more than it’s worth, “you look beautiful”

That last word managed to turn her stomach a bit fuzzy and warm, she stepped closer, locking her eyes with hers, “may I kiss you?”

Nishino nodded bashfully and that’s all she need before finally touching the girl’s lips with hers, inhaling her warm breath and faint fresh floral scent, enjoying how her lips taste mildly sweet yet she kind of feel intoxicated with it. After a moment, she broke their contacts, regaining her breath with a soft exhale, “Nanase, I love you.”

The other girl couldn’t give any reply because her lips had gone back to seal hers straight after finishing her words. Only after they parted once more she could finally be able to reply with a voice as soft as a mere whisper, “I love you too. Always”

~To be continued~

AN: Not much happening but I guess I kinda need to write this kind of chapter. You know, like the calm before the storm... lolAs usual, I want to thank you all my precious reader for bare with me up until this point :luvluv2:Replies:

@ wakasama__

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Finally! the most I wait. maiyan and ikuchan finally united again :farofflook: although they are not siblings but I really liked their relationship. as if they were completely fused. ahh This part really provoke emotional :imdead:thanks for update author-san :)

Cheers for ShiraIku sisters :luvuluvu: I'm glad that you're also enjoying their relationship because I also do. I hope you will like this chapter too :)

@wakaten

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Hey there! sorry for forgetting to comment like again?

haha awesome chapter like alway, this is so touching, i'm crying...i like IkuMai relationship, happy that they're okay now.. what was left is only Mai to retrieve her human feeling without drug..

and Nanamin is gone now.

It's fine, I think I'm worse than you when it comes to commenting :banghead:IkuMai storm has passed away, but still not finished...Nanamin might be gone but I'm going to keep her in my memory with fanfictions. I hope she's having the best of her life right now :on speedy:

So the father is dead? I dunno if I should be thankful that he kept Maiyan in that state or not....I do feel bad for Ikuchan though, everything suddenly rests on her shoulders.Even though I expected IkuMai reunion gonna be emotional and all, still…. :mon cry:But I’m so glad that their relationship is getting better, because I’m looking forward for more IkuMai :heart:

I’m liking how Maiyan starting to joke more and how she’s more positive about things. She seems to better at showing her emotions too.

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“Nanase, I love you.”

Yes, yes. You’re doing a job, Maiyan. Keep it up.

Now I'm dreading the storm that will come because this has been such a nice development... :nervous

Over the last few weeks, they have been quite lenient on her activities. They let her train her batting and pitching for an hour every 3 days, walk around the company with only one security personnel following her around, even have her meals in the company cafes which are considerably decent. Of course, this is still quite far from her actual demands, but even she realizes that letting her out in open air might not be as simple as it sounds.

One by one the people that work on her case got another matter on their hands, it started from Takayama who already have some other projects in just a few months after she woke up, followed by Fukagawa who got another big project and ever since had started to come less frequent, Sakurai is just an outsource help so she has always had something else to do from the beginning, and Ikuta always seems to be busy even though she tried to drop her a visit randomly. So the only one who left is just Hashimoto Nanami, who by now has grown her hair to the point that the tip reaching her shoulders.

Once, she had asked her why doesn’t she have another matter but her, but instead a simple answer the older woman replied, “If you really would like to know, I’ll show you my other patient.”

She followed her to the room just right next to her, which layout is quite similar, an observation room with a glass looking to another room. But instead of a living quarter like what she has, this one contains only machines, circling a meter length semi-cylindrical pod in the middle. Hashimoto typed a few commands on one of the keyboards and one of the screen shows a zoom in view of the pod.

“Shiraishi-san, meet Yamashita-chan.”

Shiraishi observes the live footage that is shown on the screen, finally recognize the shape as a human fetus, unbelievably young one that she had only seen on textbooks before. Suddenly the realization hits her hard, “where is her mother?”

“She passed away a few weeks ago, on the way back from her first doctor visit to confirm her pregnancy. Sadly, she couldn’t make it through, but little Yamashita-chan did.”

She averted her gaze from the screen onto the real thing over the glass, trying not to get concerned over the fate of the young fetus, hoping that this thing that they are doing is truly what the best for her. Probably not 5 minute has even passed when Hashimoto typed a few things on the keyboard and turn the monitor off once more, “now that you know there is someone else I’m working on, I think it’s best for us to go back to your room before anyone noticed that I bring unauthorized person here.”

Shiraishi nodded as her foot took a few steps back towards the door, her eyes are still not leaving the pods. When Hashimoto gently pat her back with a gentle push towards the exit, she tried to meet Shiraishi gaze and said softly, “this has never happened, okay?”

Slowly Shiraishi nodded and taken the view inside the room once more before hesitantly took a step outside.

That was the first time she has done something quite illegal during her never-ending stay in the company. She does keep her words, never mention anything about it, not even to Hashimoto, even though there are times when she’s kind of curious about how is it progressing. She knows that there were so much at stake for just the sake of fulfilling her curiosity.

She was trying to get interested in the show that the television is showing when the subtle sound of the door sliding open caught her attention, a bit hoping to see Nishino be the one standing there. However, the person is not her, this person is not even one of the people who usually visit her.

“Wakatsuki?” She hesitantly called out her name, unsure of what to say since it is sudden. She knows that Wakatsuki is the one helping the company for government accusation, she also had seen her a few times, but never actually talked to her. They’re not exactly friends from the first place.

“Shiraishi-san, I’m sorry to come without a notice, but I really need to talk to you regarding several things.” She threw her gaze around the room, looking a bit cautious with the surrounding, “I prefer to do it over a cup of coffee in more laid back place, what do you think?”

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows still a bit puzzled with everything, the fact that her meds had worn out doesn’t help either.

“Don’t worry, Hashimoto-san already knows about this. You can even call her if you still doubt my intention,” Wakatsuki patiently assure her, even though her tone is hinting a slight urgency.

She knows that her room is monitored, meaning that most likely every single word spoken here could be heard by someone else. Upon realizing that, she nodded and started to walk towards the door where the young woman stands stiffly, “let’s go.”

They walked side by side since Shiraishi think she roughly has an idea where Wakatsuki is heading, but to her surprise suddenly the other girl grabs her wrist and abruptly pull her for a quick turn to a little hallway that she has never been before. Wakatsuki led her further inside before finally halting in front of a door with ladies sign on it, opening the door to let her enter first.

“Is everything okay?” Shiraishi asked as she watches Wakatsuki pull out a bag from the counter beneath the sink. Her brain is trying to come up with an answer of what’s happening.

Wakatsuki opened the bag and swiftly pulled out a set of clothing from inside, “the thing is, what are we going to discuss can’t be done in this building. So, you’re going out, only for a few hours. So please change into this clothes because wearing your lab outfit outside will only attract some unnecessary attention.”

She handed Shiraishi the clothes, “trust me, this is important. If you don’t want them to win the case and drag you away from here, this will be important.”

“Okay,” she answered as she closed the stall door and started to change. The clothes that Wakatsuki has given her are a simple blue shirt with black wide leg pants, from the size and style she could tell that they most likely belong to Nishino. Thankfully, it fits her all right albeit Nishino is a bit smaller than her.

Once she’s done, Wakatsuki gave her a visitor tag to wear. Shiraishi eyed her in suspicion when she realized that it belongs to Sakurai, but decided to say nothing and pin the tag on her shirt breast pocket. Wakatsuki folded her lab outfits neatly and store it inside the bag, hiding it inside the sink counter once more, “Okay, now we’re ready to go.”

Both say nothing as they walk to the parking lot, Shiraishi chose to walk a step behind the lawyer, trying to maintain evasive looks whenever they passed someone. She realized she should be glad that she hadn’t taken the drugs earlier today because if she had, she might be having a severe panic attack by now.

Wakatsuki guide her into a silver corolla, she observes the interior a bit in her first few seconds, it is really plain but pristine clean, with some documents stacked up neatly on the back seat. Wakatsuki who were pulling her seatbelt seems to notice this and mumbled irritably, “well, sorry, I’m not that rich enough to drive a European car.”

“It’s not that, I was just…” Shiraishi found her voice fading at the end, she fiddled with the seatbelt before finally buckling up safely, “I was just wondering.”

Wakatsuki says nothing more and started to hit the gas and the car smoothly glides into the big street. Once they’re finally out of Nogizaka fence she could hear Wakatsuki exhales loudly, probably relieving the tension that she had from smuggling her out.

Shiraishi observes the other girl, realizing this is the longest time they probably manage spend without arguing or trying to hit each other. From her logical thinking, most of the time she was the one who’s at fault for hurting Nishino but Wakatsuki was the one who started the fight.

“This important thing that you want to talk about,” Shiraishi started as she averted her gaze to the road forward, “is not about Nanase, isn’t it?”

“No.” Wakatsuki frowns, stealing a quick look at her before saying, “is there something that I should be concerned about Nanase?”

“None that I know of, I am just speculating. Because I still couldn’t find out the reason why would you need to trouble yourself bringing me out just to talk? There must be some specific matter that couldn’t even be said inside the building.”

“Your company has cameras everywhere. It’s not safe to talk over there.” Shiraishi could hear a hint of amazement in her tone.

“That’s not my company you know,” she corrected the young lawyer. Finding it a bit odd that the other girl got mistaken about that.

Wakatsuki smiled sadly, “whatever.”

A part of Shiraishi is trying to figure out what the other person means with that, however, she decided to let it go and asked something that has been bugging her mind lately, “Lately I've been wondering about Nanase, is there anything that I should know?”

“What do you mean?” Wakatsuki furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“I just think that there are things that she’s not telling me. Like what happened when I was-“ she hesitates and decided to find a better word, “you know. Presumably dead.”

“I can say that a lot happened back then. However, having me to recount what had happened is not exactly wise. I’m certain she will tell you everything once she’s ready,” Wakatsuki bit her lower lip. “She has told me everything that you’ve done back then. To be honest, if you’re not having this problem right now I would have punched you in the face.”

No wonder back then Takayama was angry with her even though she had never met her before. She could imagine what kind of dreadful opinion Nishino friends have about her once they have known what she- Shiraishi Mai has done. However, she thinks it is good for Nishino to tell other about that because that way she could also share her feelings with others, something that she always had a serious problem with.

She was lost in thought that she went into silence. After a while, Wakatsuki decided to add more to her so-called story, “you might have noticed this but in case you are really that oblivious I just want to let you know that you really have done it, you know? Hurt her beyond my expectation.”

“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized, “and thank you. For taking care of her all this time.”

“Apologize to her not me,” Wakatsuki replied bitterly. “But I guess you must have done that so much till both of you lost count. Also, you don’t need to thank me, it was for her not for you.”

“Fair enough,” Shiraishi pursed her lips, thinking that she might need to stir the conversation so it wouldn’t feel awkward for the other person, “so, is it safe to tell me where are we heading?”

“Of course,” she chuckled a little bit, “The name is Cinq Étoiles, it’s a nice coffee shop just at the end of this street. It has a really nice calm atmosphere and an even private booth that would keep prying ears away. I’ve been there a couple of times since Nishino and Sakurai started to went to Nogizaka often. I was also there with Ikuta-san once.”

“With Erika? I see.”

“It was totally a professional matter, it’s nothing like what you think,” Wakatsuki quickly added, afraid that it’d cause a bad misunderstanding between them. She slowly turns the wheel towards the left, entering the parking lot of an old but elegant looking building with a five stars’ symbol engraved on one of its mirrors.

Once the car properly parked, Shiraishi curved her lips into a smile, hoping that it will look genuine enough, “you’re not so bad after all, Wakatsuki.”

“Let’s see if you’re still going to think so after what will happen next,” she stiffened and release her seat belt. “Shiraishi-san, you do know that by staying with Nogizaka you will have more chance to be with Nanase, right?”

Shiraishi felt a bit uncomfortable by the sudden seriousness, nonetheless, she nodded in acknowledgment, “is there something that I need to know?”

“I am pretty sure the others have filled you in about this, but let me remind you once more. The government is trying to get ahold of you. It is not easy to shook them off. But in the end, it will lie heavily on you, that’s why you need to minimize even the tiniest reason for them to drag you to their side,” Wakatsuki warned. “The reason I’m bringing you out today is technically not because I need to talk to you. But rather, someone needs to talk to you. Right now, I believe that person already in there waiting. Considering her position, that person could easily change your mind, however, I do think you need to talk to her from now because you could be easier to sway if you suddenly meet her in the trial.”

“Her?” she looks at Wakatsuki sharply, when Wakatsuki mention that she is meeting another person she had expected it to be her father, turns out it’s not.

“We don’t actually have much time, so it’s better that you decide about who she is once you meet her,” Wakatsuki urged her before opening the door and stepped out.

The café was not too crowded but wasn’t empty either, however, just like what Wakatsuki had described it has a really sweet and calm atmosphere. Perhaps, that comes from the vintage interior that it has, the soft sound of the music and what probably is a nice smell of freshly baked croissant.

Wakatsuki went straight to one of the waitress, talked to her for a little bit before the person nodded in acknowledgment and guide them to the second level of the place. Which consists of dozens booth with sliding glass door and curtains for even more privacy.

The waitress stops in front one of the booth on the corner, knocking the door two times before a familiar voice replied, “come in.”

The waitress opens the door for them to enter, just like the other booth it has a nice and cozy sofa circling a square table in a ‘U’ like shape, and on one side of the sofa sat someone that Shiraishi thought she would never see again.

Even though she’s middle-aged, it’s not hard to say that the woman still looks good, which she thinks works perfectly in the favor of her profession. The person has also grown her brunette hair, making their features more similar. She wonders if she would start to feel disgusted on this later, which would be ironic because back when she was younger she has always loved it whenever someone would remark how she looks just like her.

The person gave her an enchanting warm smile, just like how she always has. She put down a cup of coffee that was in her hand and stand up to approach her. Before she is aware of what is happening the person has already engulfed her in a hug, “Mai, I miss you so much.”

If only she could feel more she would have shoved the woman in the first second she touched her. But not being able to feel make her needs to think of everything beforehand, logically connect every action with what she should have felt.

“Let go of me,” Shiraishi said, trying not to be the one who pushed her away. She averted her gaze around the room, passing trough the waitress who looks like uncomfortable for intruding such a moment, before it landed on Wakatsuki who’s looks like she’s going to snap soon. Shiraishi exhaled before pushed the woman away with both of her hands, “I can tell that you haven’t changed at all, you really are the worst, mother.”

AN:Yeay guess who finally manage to finish the chapter and update it after 4 months has passed? XD Seriously I think even Maiyan updates her blog more often than me updating this fic :nervous

As always I want to thank all my precious reader for having to read this far :deco: ANYWAY, What do you think about Waka?? *I'm honestly hyping up when I write Waka parts. Also in case you didn't realize the name of the other subject comes from the new gen yeayyyy. Tbh, I have plotted this far before new gen comes out and back then I was thinking of having 2nd gen instead. But now I just realize it will be better if it comes from the new kids instead.

Anyway my beloved Maiyan birthday is coming up so we shall see if I would be able to come up with something to celebrate that. It could be a one-shot, could be a bonus chapter of Sakanatachi, I'll see where my creative-brain will lead me to. :thumbsup

Okay goes to replies :

@C [pretend_2besome1]

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So the father is dead? I dunno if I should be thankful that he kept Maiyan in that state or not....I do feel bad for Ikuchan though, everything suddenly rests on her shoulders.

Maiyan father wasn't exactly the best parent, I know. Well, you'll hear more about her parents on the upcoming chapters. There will most likely be another flashback. And yeah, poor Ikuchan. But that way I got the chance to show how Ikuchan is not perfect. In fact that's one of the thing that I want to point out in this fanfic (also in my other fanfic), no one is actually perfect. Okay I should move on before I'm getting too deep into things :mon sweat:

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Even though I expected IkuMai reunion gonna be emotional and all, still…. But I’m so glad that their relationship is getting better, because I’m looking forward for more IkuMai

I’m liking how Maiyan starting to joke more and how she’s more positive about things. She seems to better at showing her emotions too.Yes, yes. You’re doing a job, Maiyan. Keep it up.

I'm trying so hard to make it emotional, because that's something that I actually like to write hahahaha glad that I'm not actually bad at that :nervousYes there will be more IkuMai of course. Yes maiyan is getting better, to be honest, I'm also glad that she's now better because writing from emotionless person perspective is so freaking hard. :bleed eyes:

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Now I'm dreading the storm that will come because this has been such a nice development...

It is, but sorry I can't really hold that calm, fluffy situation for long XD

@Janix123:

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YEY!! A Birthday!!! I am overall very happy on how the story is going. i really got envious of the sisters' condition. Both of them are so caring.

I was surprised to know that Maiyan only have a few people on her contacts. Just like how my contacts were like before (which was around 4-10 people)

Hehehehehehehe birthday presents

Yes, I really like strong relationship between siblings :)Hahahahaha, she still couldn't much anyway, so why bother with more contacts right? XD But in a sense she's not even allowed to go out and definitely they are still limiting her activities so it'll be illogical if she has more :nervousI'm really glad you're liking the birthday presents :)

You know there are moments in your life when you’re just so sleepy that nothing could help to prevent your eyes from glued shut. Nishino Nanase is currently struggling with it, most of the times whenever this kind of situation is happening she would just give up and let the land of dream take over her, however, today is different. To be precise, tonight is different.

Her school is known for their festival, unlike most of another school who will hold it once a year, hers does it twice a year. As if once is not already troublesome enough. However, this is her first senior high school festival so Nishino is more excited than usual, especially because almost every single student in her class decided to have a sleepover in the school instead of going home.

However there she was still awake past midnight, trying to finish painting on a big board that would later get exhibited in her class. A part of her regretted her decision to accept her classmates request, she should have disagreed with them when they suddenly came up with the idea of changing their class into a hipster café with graffiti across the walls.

Nishino sighed and took a step back from the huge board, her arms started to hug herself in instinct to keep herself warm from the chilly night wind. She frowned when she realizes that it doesn’t look as good as she had in mind. Well, to be honest almost everything that she makes always feels like nowhere near what she has in mind.

She sits on the ground, her eyes drifted to several papers beside her. Leaning her body back to where the wall is she holds up one of the paper and intently observe her initial design, trying to come up with an idea to improve the supposed to be finished work with something that still within her skill range.

However slowly her pace decreased leaving her surrendering to her heavy eyelids.

She felt like a minute barely even passed once she opens her eyes once more. Scrubbing her eyes with the back of her hands she halted when she notices the velvet coat on her lap. It’s definitely not hers since she only brought her hoodie which has never left her body ever since she left her house yesterday morning. She pulls the coat up with her hands so she could inspect it better, the material is really soft and warm, it also sparks a sweet fragrance. From the brand alone she could tell that this coat doesn’t belong to either of her best friends and most likely not her classmate either because surely a coat as captivating as this wouldn’t escape her eyes.

Tearing off her focus from the garment she could hear a soft sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the place. She couldn’t see the person because the huge boards that she’s using to paint basically circling her, making a small room for her to be able to work without prying eyes. Nishino stands up, stretching her body a bit before started to approach the sound.

Standing across of her with the moonlight shone over her school uniform is Shiraishi Mai. Before today she already knew how beautiful the older girl is, but not before this time Nishino stand frozen upon seeing the girl. She would never forget the way the moon seems to work in her favor, shooting its mesmerizing light exactly in the right way as the girl spun under it, her eyes glued to the paper on her hands, while her mouth moved yet inaudible most likely reciting the lines written.

The wind blow harshly, causing the girl chestnut hair to wave wildly and distract her view, the girl let out a soft laugh as she wiped the silly strands away, tucking it behind her ears. She folded the paper in her hands and look straight to where Nishino is.

“Look who’s awake,” her voice broke Nishino off her trance.

Awkwardly the younger girl approaches her, unconsciously holding the coat closer to her body in an attempt to protect herself from the cold wind, “umm… Is this yours, senpai?”

“If I hadn’t come back then, you’d be freezing by now, kouhai,” she replied without an actual answer of the question and smirked, “you’re so careless to fell asleep on the roof, the snow time may have passed but it’s still winter. I’m pretty sure they have said something about using the roof in the night is forbidden, that was for your own good, you know?”

Nishino clenched her teeth, a part of her should have realized that it was a bit foolish for her to show up. The last thing she needs is getting reprimanded for breaking the school rules. However, she looked at the upperclassman with a slight frown, “but you’re also not supposed to be here.”

“Well I believe in the saying, ‘rules are meant to be broken’. Nevertheless, unlike me, you look like someone who would try to avoid getting in a trouble,” she actually was not expecting the younger girl to call her out. “You know what? Let’s make a deal where I will act like this has never happened and in exchange, you will help me rehearsing a script.”

She was tempted to point out the fact that the older girl is also breaking the rule so it should be even if both of them should just keep this a secret, however by the girl sentence she has a feeling that she wouldn’t be bothered if the school finds out that she’s disobeying them.

“Okay, but I am warning you that I’m bad with acting,” Nishino said as she held out the coat for the girl to take it back, however, the older girl shook her head.

“You should wear it, for now, you need it more than me,” she rejected as she hands her one of the script on her hand. Nishino looks at the other girl attire for a moment, even though Shiraishi is wearing a cardigan is still thin and the scarf around her neck isn’t exactly going to help her to keep her body warm.

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows and finally took the coat from the underclassman's hands, wearing it swiftly and started to loosen her scarf afterward. Nishino was too fascinated by how the coat seems to look even more perfect on Shiraishi as if that was specially designed for the girl.

She was too immersed in observing the other girl movement that she was one step behind from realizing the girl intention, she can feel her heat increasing as the older girl lay her dark blue scarf around Nishino, “fine, but at least take this. It’s going to be bad if you caught a cold.”

Nishino was too dazed to say anything and ended up nodding stiffly as Shiraishi smiled widely upon noticing her embarrassment, “now, can you please help me to recite the line on the 3rd page. You just have to read the Kazuma part, don’t need to worry about intonation or anything. I will be reading the Viina part.”

“O-okay,” Nishino replied as she nervously turns the page into the correct one. The older girl patiently waited until she finally settled before starting to read her line.

Albeit Nishino stammered so many times, Shiraishi has never shown her disapproval or disappointment she would patiently wait until the junior finished the sentence before swiftly moving into action as if Nishino did everything perfectly. Nishino thinks that it must have looked weird, how she just stiffly read the line while sitting down on the bench while Shiraishi will respond will all her might.

She doesn’t know what gotten into her but she suddenly stood up, facing Shiraishi and try to say the line just as the script point out. Seeing this Shiraishi broke the character for a moment to smiled a little as an approval.

So there they were, reciting line by line, taking step by step to circle each other. Even though Nishino’s nervousness still apparent it doesn’t bother the girl anymore. Well, to be exact, she doesn’t have time to be nervous anymore since the more she read the lines the more she got lured into the storyline.

The story isn’t exactly one that she has heard before, it’s about a young spirit who serves as a Goddess familiar, which sometime later he began to fall for her as the Goddess is not only beautiful but kind and free-spirited. However, her kindness prone to be her downfall and he tried to save her from it to the point of betraying her.

At the last scene, he who had been banished for his treason got reunited with the Goddess again. And as he said his apology to her the Goddess embrace him and them-

WAIT

Nishino halted as she realizes the scene that they’re doing right now, mentally scolding herself for getting too immersed in the story and not preparing herself beforehand. However, there she was, kneeling in front of Shiraishi. She didn’t realize it before but Shiraishi surely fit the role a lot as she has a certain elegance and composure that could be a bit terrifying for a normal person.

Nishino held out her right hand towards her, gulping down her nervousness before speaking the line, “if I may, I would like to serve you again as I have no greater wish than to be by your side once more.”Shiraishi took her hand with hers, her skin feels so soft albeit cold. She was gentle as if Nishino hands would break upon a touch. Shiraishi bows down until their view are on the same level, her free hand making its way up to embrace Nishino’s cheek.

“There’s no greater joy for me than having you beside me as the time we have spent are ones that I cherished the most. Thank you.”

The senior is looking at her with high intensity that Nishino feeling even warmer than before, she averted her eyes to the script, hoping it would conceal the feelings that have started to grow. Luckily it doesn’t take Shiraishi long to snap out from her daze and take a step back from the younger girl.

“Thank you so much for your help um-” she seems to be thinking for a moment before sheepishly asked, “we haven’t exactly introduced ourselves, didn’t we?”

Nishino took a deep breath to calm down her racing heart before saying, “no. I- I am Nishino Nanase from 10-B.”

“I’m Shiraishi Mai from 11-C. It’s nice to meet you, Nishino-chan,” she let out a wide smile upon finishing her sentence then moved to grab a silver thermos from the bench, she pour the drink it’s cup and gave it to Nishino who was still fumbling with her words and could only let out incoherent thanks as a reply.

Nishino coughed in surprised when the warm liquid taste reaches her tongue. It was bitter, more bitter than the normal coffee that she tried once from Wakatsuki. Shiraishi raised her eyebrows, “Are you okay?”

She nodded in response before bracing herself to gulp the dark liquid down. Trying not to show her amazement when seeing Shiraishi gulped down the coffee straight from the thermos lid without looking disgusted.

“You should have said no if you can’t stand coffee, Nishino-chan.”

“but you didn’t even tell me that it was coffee,” she frowned a little. For a moment Shiraishi stopped her movement before she burst out in laughter.

“Fair enough,” Shiraishi shrugged before giving Nishino a signal to sit beside her on the bench. She straightened her legs before finally ask, “so what do you think about the play?”

Nishino catches her eyes and took a moment to sort out her words before saying, “story-wise it is really good. It’s not something that I have heard before and the theme is unique. The writer did a really amazing job, it’s a bit unbelievable that high school students came out with the story because it looks professionally written.”

“I didn’t say anything about it being written by a high school student, did I?”

“IT’S NOT???” Nishino eyes widened.

“Yeah, it’s not exactly for school festival play,” Shiraishi chuckled, “it’s an outside of school theatre club project that I’m a part of.”

She had never thought that Shiraishi will be the kind of person that is active in that kind of group outside of school. If anything, she originally thought that the people from Shiraishi class are the one who voted for the girl to do the part because of her popularity and good looks.

Nishino Nanase realizes there’s more of Shiraisi Mai in addition of her captivating beauty.

“That’s really amazing, senpai,” she couldn’t hide her astonishment.

“You should put the brochure on the news wall, I’m pretty sure a lot of students in the school will be keen to come to see it.”

“No,” Shiraishi shook her head before looking up to the sky, “I don’t want people to solely come to see me. I want people to genuinely come to see the play. It doesn’t make any no sense to you, isn’t it?”

Nishino hummed trying to make a sense of it for a moment, “I think I can understand.”

“Well, I actually have been thinking of inviting someone to come and see me, but I’m still unsure whether it is a good idea or not.”

“Senpai, I’m sure the person would enjoy the performance,” the younger encouraged her. “Well, unless this person is really not into a stage play.”

“No, that’s not really the problem,” Shiraishi laughs, however, it sounds a bit different than the playful chuckle that she did before, this one sounds more deep and short, resembling a scoff more than a laugh, “I wish it’s something that simple, though.”

They went silent for a moment, with Nishino trying hard to come up with something to reply.

“Senpai, you… If you need to talk about that, I’m willing to listen.”Shiraishi raised her eyebrows, “Thanks, Nishino-chan, but I don’t really know you that much so I don’t think I should talk to you about it. Well, to be honest, I don’t think I should talk to anyone about this because this is- hm… personal matters.”

“It’s fine, you’re not being insensitive. If anything, during this short period that I have known you I think you’re far from insensitive,” Shiraishi averted her eyes towards the other girl. “I wonder, Nishino-chan, do you have a boyfriend?”

“N- no.”

“Girlfriend then?”

“Wha- No, I don’t.” Nishino realizes how it’s not that strange for a girl to be in a relationship with another girl, especially when it comes to their school, but still, she was taken aback from the upperclassman sudden interrogation.

“Hm… what about a crush? Do you have any?”

It took Nishino a moment before gulping down her nervousness and reply softly, “I don’t think so.”

Shiraishi lifted her eyebrows, feeling suspicious of the other girl answer, “well, let me tell you something. Hm… Have you ever heard about me before? Like I mean before we met tonight, maybe from your classmate or something.”

“Yeah,” Nishino admitted. It would be impossible not to hear about the other girl before, Shiraishi Mai is amazingly popular, everyone in the school now her beauty, albeit their opinion on her varies greatly, even Takayama- Nishino friends that go to another school knows about the older girl.

The fact that Shiraishi is the first heir of one of the biggest biomedical technology and robotics add to her popularity advantages. One could say that she has everything you want from a partner.

“Do you know that most people are either like me or hates me?” Shiraishi smiled bitterly.

Nishino feels bad because it seems like the other girl is hurting to admit that, “they have their reasons.”

“Well, of course. But do you know that I also have a reason to be like that?” Shiraishi averted her gaze back to the sky, seemingly lost in her train of thought for a moment before started to speak. “From the early years of my life, people that should have been there and care about me abandoned me in different ways. That’s why I never was able to reject someone affection towards me, even if I don’t know the person that well to like them back, even if I actually in a relationship with someone else, I couldn’t help but be greedy. It’s more like because I have lost so much, I will take every tiny piece of love that people could offer.”

The sun has started to appear, replacing the moon that has gone from their view, the yellowish rays seem to give the sky much more bright colors. Nishino eyes carefully observed the older girl, her eyes seem a bit sad albeit the smile that still doesn’t leave her lips.

“Furthermore, after everything that I have done because I just want people’s love, I am still afraid. What if they decided that I’m not good enough? Will they leave me just like the others did? So I always tried to be the one that breaks it,” Shiraishi continued, finally lifted her gaze from the peeking sun to face Nishino once more. “I am not like you, Nishino-chan. I am not afraid of people getting hurt because of me, I would rather have myself to be the one not-hurting.”

“Unlike me?” Nishino is confused, her brain failed to process the similarity of their situation.

“I think you know the answer more than I do, after all, I just met you a few hours ago,” her answer came as she stood up and turn her back towards the sun. “It was nice to talk to you, Nishino-chan. I believe you should leave this place before someone come and caught you here. It’s only a matter of time before your classmate started to look for you, too.”

For a moment, they were looking at each other without saying or doing anything. Nishino broke their moment by nodding and standing up to properly face Shiraishi, “I believe you’d be amazing on stage, senpai. I wish you the best of luck.”

“I don’t want to hear that now. Decide whether it’s good or not after you personally watch it. There will be a performance on Friday two weeks from now at the city town hall theater. I will reserve a seat for you, just come and give the information staff your name and say that you’re my guest,” Shiraishi explained briefly. “Your art is amazing, Nishino-chan. Take care of yourself, it’d be a waste if we lost someone with that skill.”

“T-thank you,” Nishino feel her face reddened so she bowed a little to hide it. “I will definitely come to watch the play.”

“Great, see you later, then,” she gave her a smile before turning her body towards the opposite side.

Nishino muttered a simple parting reply, before finally managing to drag her foot towards the door, a part of her still doesn’t want to leave yet she realizes that she really needs to go if she doesn’t want both of them to get caught breaking the school rules.

However, before closing the door, she stole a look towards the girl once more and find her looking up to the sky. She couldn’t really see her face because she was facing the opposite side. Then she realizes that the girl looks lonely.

She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened.

Snapping out from her useless wondering, Nishino closed the door and head downstairs. Once she got back from her class, several of her classmates ask about where she was, which she answered with one word “toilet” that thankfully manages to lift her out of their suspicion.

However, once she’s not the main attention of the whole classmate, Wakatsuki Yumi approaches her, with an unreadable look and say, “I wonder where did you get that scarf.”

Nishino eyes widened as she realizes that she forgot to give it back to Shiraishi, she stammered aimlessly to answer her best-friend before the latter shrugged.

“It’s totally fine, you don’t need to explain. It looks good on you."

For several minutes, they both stood looking at each other in silence. Nishino was one second away from walking away when Wakatsuki started to speak.

“Over the past month, things went downhill for the three of us, I really hope that someday we can go back to be friends just like before,” Wakatsuki said. “I know that I’m not in the position to demand so much, but at least I can hope for that.”

Nishino looks down for a moment. Somehow, she remembered what Shiraishi has said to her about taking every piece of love that she could find. Nishino sighed and finally said, “I’m… I’m glad that you did that. We are best friend, right? It was foolish of me to think that we should change that. I really hope we could stay best friends forever.”

“So am I.”

AN

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAIYAN. MAY SHE FOREVER BE MY GODDESS :farofflook:

Okay you might notice but this wasn't actually intended to be Maiyan birthday special fanfic. You see the thing is I once thought to scrap this chapter from the plot as it seems so long just to answer few questions and even add some more. To tell the truth, most of the important points in this chapter will be explained later in future chapters, but probably it's going to take us a few more chapter before we got to that. This chapter originally going to be told still a bit later, however, I put it forward because it was already half done and I am currently too busy to come up with something else for maiyan birthday (yet I really want to put something) :)

In case you were too swayed by the Nanamai goodness to notice, here's 2 things that you ought to know after reading this chapter:=> This chapter is the first time Maiyan and Nanase truly meet, which means this happens before that one backstory where Wakatsuki hit Maiyan.=> This chapter also explains the reason why Maiyan did get a wrong impression upon Wakatsuki and Nanase living together. Well, this doesn't actually tell you that she knows about Waka but however you can see from the last Waka and Naachan convo that something did happen between the three bestfriend.

I realize that I've been writing this story for more than a year. During this period a lot of things has happened to Shiraishi Mai (irl) some might be something that I used to find it hard to accept however I'm still glad to be able to follow Maiyan journey till this far. :deco:

I also need to thank you all for reading this story, I'm glad I'm able to share my wild imagination about Maiyan here and to see that people likes it :heart:

So here's for more to come, both the story, Shiraishi Mai, and all of us :k-wink:

Reply:@Janix123

Quote

After reading this chapter... I get more interested....LIKE VERY!!

I'm kinda looking forward for more flashbacks where Maiyan was yet to become an android... like their relationship with Naachan.Or how she was with Wakarei and Kazumin...

I never expected Maiyan to meet her mother... It surprised me a lot. Hahahaha Waka's patience made me laugh...JK...made me scared too.

Thanks for update author-san

Here's more flashback, I hope it's good enough :cathappy: Well I might forgot to mention this but Kazumin, Reika and Maiyan is more of a stranger to begin with. Like they knows each other exist but doesn't really interact. However Wakatsuki is another story, she played a bigger part in Maiyan past ;).Hahahaha her mother is a missing link that is really fun to write. And Waka could be scary since she is clearly not fond of Maiyan :nervousThank you for reading and commenting :)

Thanks for the update :twothumbs :twothumbsThe way they met was cute ... it would be great if we could read more moments of them :heart: :heart:I hope to read more of WakaRei and that you can update soon :D

Shiraishi Mai still could not believe what’s happening. However, she quickly snapped out her confusion as she took a step back from the woman that was hugging her. Unconsciously, her hand reached up to where her artificial heart is beating, as if to make sure that she actually still not able to feel anything.

Good thing that the woman let her go and took a step back herself, taking a seat as she waited for her to calm down.

“Nakamoto-san, isn’t it? Can you please give us some privacy,” Wakatsuki said to the waitress as the latter nodded and took a few step back. Once she is gone Wakatsuki exhales and sit down, leaving Shiraishi to be the only one standing up, “you should take a seat too, Shiraishi-san.”

Shiraishi nodded, taking a seat as she looks at the girl sharply, forming the words in her head carefully before finally asked, “I would like to know, Wakatsuki-san, how long have you known about this?”

“Long enough,” the one being questioned replied without even looking at her.

“You are either too good or stupid. I really hope that you’re not both,” she said bitterly.

Wakatsuki didn’t reply, seemingly more interested on the table in front of her than anything else. Shiraishi averted her gaze back to the older woman, who seems to be observing her thoroughly, her expression as unreadable as always.

“Mother, don’t you think this is too late to start playing family?” she asked, holding back her next sentence for a moment because she had accidentally bit her lower lips. Ignoring the iron taste in her mouth she continued, “ It took me a while to realize this, but I already have people that I consider my family, I don’t need you to barge in and ruin it."

"Mai, please, just listen," she said calmly, hoping that her daughter will be more at ease by her soft tones.

However it didn't work, instead, her sentence had somehow prompted Shiraishi to say every single thing that came to her mind, "no, you're the one who needs to listen. I’m pretty much okay with leaving everything behind. After all, Yumi-chan here will always be your true child just as much as I am just someone who should have never been born. I - don't - need - you.”

“Mai, it’s not like that,” for the first time she looks terrified upon her daughter's words.

“Not like what? Not like you just watched from a few meters away as I struggled and slowly bleed myself to death? I might have a problem with my emotion but I pretty much okay with my memories.”

The older woman lost her words for several seconds, totally taken aback with her sharp and accusing sentence before quickly regained herself, “that’s not like what you think. Leave that aside, for now, I need to tell you several things about the next trial because we don’t have much time.”

Shiraishi averted her gaze to the clock on the wall, “time is ticking. Better make it quick since I would prefer not to spend so much time with you.”

“On the next trial, I would be working with the government. I would use my right as your birthmother,” she said calmly.

“What a surprise,” Shiraishi said flatly.

Ignoring her rude remarks the older woman continued, “look, I know that you don’t want them to get ahold of you, so I’m going to help you from the other side. What you need to do is to counter them with the fact that you are an adult capable of making decisions by yourself. That’s the point that I think you need to work on, how to convince the jury that you are making the decision by yourself without having the company to cloud your judgment.”

“And why I should trust that you wouldn’t be pulling anything else behind?”

“Because I am still your mother. I want you to be safe and I know being with government is not the answer to that,” she said softly, her tone expresses her concern perfectly.

“Your motherly side is so astounding,” she remarked, not even trying to put some emotion in her words, “you know, you could have chosen to be on our side instead of the opposite.”

“And would you actually accept me? We all know that you wouldn’t. If not this way you would never let me help you. That’s why I chose to do it from the opposing side.”

“You’re right I wouldn’t have accepted your help. Maybe I never will. But at least I would probably hate you less.”

Shiraishi wonders how easy it is for her to hate the woman now despite how much she adores her back before the accident happened. To think about it, it was all her own fault. Shiraishi Mai shouldn’t have tried to find her mother from the first place. If she had never tried to look for her none of this would have happened.

When she was young she always regards her mother highly, even though she basically knows nothing about her. She had always given the biggest smile whenever someone would remark their striking resemblance, had always tried to pry as many information as she can whenever she’s meeting someone who declares they know the woman.

She grew up with the idea that her mother was an amazing human being that along the way fallen out of love from her father which makes her left the house. She secretly tried to look for the woman. However, her search was for naught, she couldn’t get a single info about where she- Gondawara Kirei went after leaving her father, not even able to get a single info about where she was before meeting her father.

It’s as if she has never existed.

Not until she was in senior high school that she finally braced herself to speak to her father, asking about her mother whereabouts as there is nothing that she wants more than to see the woman that given birth to her.

She remembered how her father stiffens upon hearing the request coming from her mouth. To her surprise, the man nodded.

“I will try to look for her whereabouts, but I warn you that there is a possibility that this would be really far from what you have imagined.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make sense of the man last words. She really wanted to ask more, but from the man expression, she knows that she will not get more out of it.

A few months later her father who was on a business trip outside of the country sent her a text which is basically nothing but an address and another sentence to have her chauffeur to drive her to the place instead of going alone and without needing a further explanation, young Shiraishi Mai knows what it will lead her to.

After several weeks of contemplation and some urging from Nishino, she finally decided to meet the woman. The woman’s place is actually only a block away from where Nishino lives so it wasn’t pretty hard even for her to find it without any help from the chauffeur, however just per her father request Shiraishi instructed her chauffeur to drive her to the place.

When she finally reached the address she stared at the family name written on the house’s plate for several minutes, starting to doubt the reliability of the information since the name written on it is ‘Wakatsuki’, she shook off all the weird thoughts that have started to bug her mind and knock on the door.

She did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again, yet no answer came. In disappointment, she dragged her feet back to where her car is. However, before she could reach her car an old man who lives in the area happened to pass by and told her that the woman just went out to the park close by. After thanking the man, she instructed her chauffeur to go to the place.

The woman has left her house before she could even walk, so Shiraishi has no recollection of her features except those that she could remember from the woman's amazingly very few pictures. However, when she stepped out from the car and started walk closer to the woman that was sitting on a picnic mat, even from far she could somehow tell that she is the person that she is looking for.

Albeit shorter, her hair sparks the same colors as her, as does as her porcelain white skin. The woman was too immersed in a novel that she was reading to notice her. Even with her head down Shiraishi Mai understands why people always note their resemblance.

“Is there anything I could help you with?” The woman suddenly looked up as their eyes met.

She didn’t even realize that she had somehow approached her and now standing next to her in a meter away distance. Back then she was troubled, she was always too focused on deciding whether to meet her or not that she has never thought about what she wants to say the woman.

Does she need to bluntly say that she’s her child? If she does, how? Shiraishi Mai realizes that it is pretty absurd to suddenly announce you’re a girl that she has left before you can even stand up properly.

What if she never wanted to see her from the first place? Maybe that’s the reason why it’s hard to find the woman.

But before she could finally say anything, a loud crying disrupts their moment, followed by the woman sudden movement to stand up and go to where the sound came.

The sound came from a little girl, she was probably around 5 years old, and from her words between her sobs, it sounds like she was playing hide and seek with the other kids around but they somehow run back home when she was the one that supposed to be the seeker.

The woman softly pats her back, kneeling a little so she is even lower than the little girl's eye level, making it easier for her to see the young girl’s face, she wiped the tears from the little girl cheek as she started to talk softly to her. The loud sounds of the girl bawling cover the sounds that came from the woman’s mouth, making it impossible for Shiraishi to grasp their conversation.

When the young girl finally nodded and calmed down a little she took a peek to where Shiraishi is standing and that’s when she could see her features clearly.

Just like how she is a striking resemblance to her mother, the young girl is also the same. Even though she’s still so young that her face still a bit bubbly, she could still see it. The same mesmerizing white skin, the same light-colored hair, same almond-shaped eyes with the deep brown orbs.

“Ah, I see,” Shiraishi accidentally said it out loud instead of keeping it for her own thought, her lips formed a bitter smile as her heart feels like it’s being tugged.

“Mom, who is that?” the girl asked, raising her eyebrows as she pointed at Shiraishi.

“N- nobody,” Shiraishi answered before the woman could say anything or even worse ask her the same question, “I thought you were someone I know but turns out I was wrong.”

The little girl frowned as she looks back and forth between the woman and Shiraishi, probably realizing their resemblance.

Shiraishi remembers what her father had said, how it could be different than what she imagined and her brain match the current situation for its answer. She couldn’t blame her, 17 years is not a short time. It’s not that surprising during that time, the woman has found someone else to build a family with.

“I’m sorry for bothering you,” she said reluctantly, not knowing what to do next before finally decide to take a step closer to the little girl, “can I ask your name?”

“Hina. Wakatsuki Hina,” the girl answered.

“Hina-chan, then. Well, you see, that kind of friend they are no good. If I were you I would ditch them and try to make friends with someone else.”

She looks at the girl longer than she should. A thinge of envy sparks in her heart, knowing that the girl has one thing that she wants the most. The girl looks confused for the sudden advice then nodded.

“I’m taking my leave then. Again, I’m sorry for bothering you,” she said, this time directing her words straight to the woman as she smiled a little, “I.. um… Your daughter, she’s lucky to have you. She loves you very much.”

She didn’t wait for the woman to answer, she quickly turned her back on her before she could even finish her own sentence, walking as fast as possible, trying not to drop her tears right there and then.

However, when she reached the stairs that will lead her to the parking lot of the park, she met her.

Shiraishi's interaction with the person ever since the time where she punched her out of nowhere was almost nonexistent, the girl pretty much giving her a grim look whenever they passed each other in the school, but today when she still hadn’t realized that Shiraishi is there she looks different.

Instead of the prominent scowl that she had thought to be her main feature, the girl is smiling cheerfully, carrying plastic bags on both of her hands as she talks with the man beside her that is most likely her father.

She halted her movement when she spotted her looking, then decided to gave Shiraishi a brief nod before continuing to walk straight ahead. Thinking that it is purely coincidental. Shiraishi could also feel the girl’s father looking at her way too long than a simply a passerby looking at someone.

Shiraishi drops her gaze to the pathway, trying not to ignore their looks as her eyes searching for her chauffeur and once she found him she silently follows him back to her car.

From her window she could see them, the woman that is her birth mother starting to pull out several paper plates from the picnic basket on the mat, the young girl that was just crying a few minutes ago is now cheerfully throwing herself into the man’s arm, the latter pick her up and let her ride his shoulders. Among them, the girl that is also her underclassman is smiling brightly.

“Ojou-san, shall we go straight back home or do you have any other plans in mind?” her chauffeur snapped her out of her deep observation.

Shiraishi looks to where her mother is, then took her phone from her pocket, pressing one of the speed dial keys that connects her to the only person outside her main family that knows her situation.

The person picked up her call after it rings for several seconds.

“N-Nanase-chan. Are you free right now?” she asked as soon as the person picked up the call.

‘Not really, I am currently at Reika cha- Sakurai Reika chan’s place. We are baking a cake as tomorrow is Yumi-chan birthday. But I’m going to be free somewhere later in the evening.’

Shiraishi looks to the park again, spotting the girl mentioned currently trying to hide her embarrassment as her little sister put a pink party hat on her head, “Wakatsuki-san, huh.”

“Nothing. Enjoy your weekend.” She didn’t say any parting words or even wait for the other girl to reply before flipping her phone shut. She looks in the rearview mirror of the car, catching the gaze of her chauffeur who is currently looking at her in concern, “to the batting practice ground.”

“Ojou-san, I am sure that we can go straight back ho-”

“-just take me to the batting ground. Please,” she cut his suggestion off, trying to keep herself away from crying, “right now, I don’t want to see anyone that I know.”

As the car slowly started to move, she took a last look at the family in the park. Telling herself that at least her mother get to be in a loving family and she seems truly happy with them. That should be enough for her, right? It’s not like Shiraishi Mai couldn’t live without her as that’s how it always been ever since she could barely even walk.

Even until this day, she realized that if her emotion is kicking in she would feel nothing but regret. Regretting her decision to come to the park that day, to approach that woman, to let herself be seen by the rest of Wakatsuki's family. But another part of her would feel like she’s winning because even though she didn’t actually get everything that she wants, at least, she managed to snatch it away from the younger girl that’s sitting beside her right now.

Just like her mother she truly is a horrible person.

“Mai, um.. here,” her mother suddenly decided to break the tension in the air, her hands moved and pulled out an envelope from her designer handbag, “there are some other things that I would like you to know. But I think it’s better if it’s not said out loud, so here.”

Shiraishi just looks at the envelope on the woman hands stiffly, not even trying to make any move to accept it. The woman smiled bitterly before putting it in front of her daughter, then she averted her gaze to her other daughter who has been nothing but silent the whole time, “have you thought any plan to counter the government?”

Then suddenly the logic in Shiraishi’s head kick in, even without mentioning it, it’s really obvious what they’re going to do. Somehow she had started to speak to confirm her suspicion, “wait isn’t it obvious? I mean from the first place they don’t really have a chance of winning me over. You haven’t been there from the beginning, you left me with my father, not even making any attempt to look out for me like until the last 24 hours before the accident, well we could say 2 months before the accident but watching my performance without even notifying me wouldn’t count much. From the first place, you have no rights on me. My father is the one who has. He is my official guardian.”

“People can’t be an official guardian from the grave, Mai. Technically, as your birth mother, I am now your official guardian.”

Shiraishi was taken aback with her first statement, her brain spaced out for a moment, leaving a nagging headache once she was finally able to process the words. She clenched her hand, trying to push away the headache in vain, “of course, right. Well, we just have to make do with your initial suggestion then, convince them that I am an adult who needs no guardian.”

She glanced at the envelope who lays just an inch away from her fingers and took it before standing up, the two other women around her look at her in a questioning manner. “I need to go to the restroom.”

She didn’t even wait for their reaction before sliding the door opened and went straight to follow the restroom sign, could only hope that they would be kind enough to let her have her moment by herself. She spins the sink’s faucet, letting the cold water run across her hands, gathering some amount of it before splashing it onto her face, hoping it would help to calm herself a little.

She was shaking and her eyes starting to turn red even without any trace of tears. She closed her eyes for several minutes, hoping that would help her situation. Then she stared at her reflection in the mirror, telling herself that it is okay, that she needs to keep herself calm, at least, until she got back into Nogizaka building and speak about the matter personally with her sister.

Afraid that she was taking too long she walked back to where her mother and Wakatsuki are, but before she could even enter the booth she accidentally overheard their conversation as the door is apparently still not closed.

She halted, waiting to eavesdrop the conversation instead entering the room.

“I need to check on her, make sure that she is okay,” came Wakatsuki voice.

“Wait! Before you go, there is something that I want to give you.” Shiraishi could hear the soft sounds of a zipper before her mother voice came again, “your father mentioned that you are thinking of taking the next step with your girlfriend. Here-”

For a moment there was silence, Shiraishi is trying her best to keep herself from taking a peek to see what’s happening, thankfully before her patience runs out the younger woman said, “I don’t need it. I don’t want my relationship with Reika has anything to do with the family. Just like I don’t want to have anything to do with it too.”

“You know it’s not that simple, your family has enemies. It’ll be dangerous for her,” they went silent for a few seconds before her mother said again, “at least with this, she is officially in the family too, that way she would have the full protection and wouldn’t be a weak link that people could take an advantage of.”

Both went silence for a while again, she could imagine Wakatsuki having face full objection to whatever it is that the woman is trying to give her.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her much, but from what I have heard she sounds like a great person. This is for her best too. Please do think about it.”

“Fine then. And yes, she is amazing.”

“You are also an amazing person too, I am glad that the two of you found each other. I am really proud of you, Yumi.”

And upon that sentence, Shiraishi felt suffocated and bitter. Who was she kidding with?

From the beginning, she’s competing in a battle that she could never win, her pathetic accidental attempt to ruin the other girl family didn’t erase the fact that her mother raised Wakatsuki Yumi and her sister, not her.

From the beginning, she had been tossed away as all she is nothing but a miserable reminder of the woman’s mistake.

She took a step back, accidentally bumped into the waitress that was serving them before in progress. The girl looked at her in confusion, “Shiraishi-san? Do you need any help in anything?”

“I-” she could hear her own voice breaking as her vision got a bit blurry because of her eyes had somehow started to water, “I need to go.”

And she ran.

She ran faster than she usually did when they checked her physique. Dashing out of the café within a matter of seconds, taking a random turn without even caring of where her foot is leading her too, not even caring about how her lungs are screaming from rigorous activity, and her brain feels like it’s being ripped apart.

She finally stopped when she realized that her phone has been ringing. Probably they had realized that she had run from the café, however, instead of picking it up she turns off the phone, making it impossible for them to reach her.

Shiraishi wondered if she was feeling like this back then, back when she had finally seen her mother in the park. She can’t remember if it was this painful or not, however, she could remember wanting to go away from everyone.

Just like what she wants to do right now.

~To Be Continued~

A/N:Hiiii! So this chapter is continuing from where we left off when Maiyan meets her mother. Here we know more about them and a plot twist that is Wakatsuki Yumi, tbh at first I wanted to have Miona instead of Hinachima for Waka's sister, then I realize that if I put Chima it would make more sense as Chima sort of looks like Shiraishi more than Miona, so then we can assume that just like Shiraishi Chima took after her mother while Waka is taking after her father. :)

And ooh can you see that I'm hinting something about Waka's relationship? ;)

I really hope this is not too complicated because somehow it will become messier as the story goes. :nervous but if you feel like there's something that you still don't understand and please do ask me via replies or personal message or whatever way you can use to do so, I'd be happy to clarify, in fact, it would probably point out which point that I still need to work on more.

We will see another flashback of Maiyan story about a two or three chapter after this and after that, it's pretty much going to be Nanase's arc. FINALLY! lol trust me I also long for us to get to that arc soon :cathappy:

So again thanks a lot for reading, I am always happy whenever I see a reply. Even if it is just a simple "Thanks for your work". So please do leave a reply if you feel like doing so :deco:

Just as usual, sorry for the mistakes :bow:

Replies:

@Janix123

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Maiyan being so nice giving the coat and the scarf....wahhhh Naachan being mesmerized by her...I also love it when Maiyan gets mesmerized by Naachan....like SERIOUSLY...my imagination gets wild.

Maiyan is actually a nice person, just as much as Nanase is, she just has a completely different circumstances that makes her a jerk back then. I'm glad that I was able to take you to your wildest imagination then :ptam-aww: I hope you're also reading this chapter and liking it, well it's more sad than fluffy but still- :nervous

@clin-nolan

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The way they met was cute ... it would be great if we could read more moments of them :heart: :heart:I hope to read more of WakaRei and that you can update soon

More moments of them will come a bit later, as now we are focusing more on maiyan's family situation. But I assure you there are some in the plot :) It's not exactly WakaRei moment but in this chapter I'm hinting that they're totally going to take the next step XD Thanks for the comment! Sorry if my updates aren't soon enough :bow:

@wakaten

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is there anything happen between waka and nanase? what waka means with 'three of us'

this story getting more interesting as it grew.. btw, when will you update sayo imi? i think i missed nanamin badly right now... seriously

Yes, something happened between waka and nanase, that's also one of the reasons why Maiyan was able to get closer to nanase, we will know more about this on Nanase's arc. And about the 'three of us' if you notice it, the friendship isn't just about waka and nanase, there's someone else in their best friend circle :)

I updated SayoImi a few days ago, sorry it took so long, but there wasn't much of Nanamin as it is justifying Asuka's reason for that camera snatching moment. The next chap definitely will have more Nanamin :D It's okay I also miss nanamin a lot :on speedy: That aside, I hope you will like this chapter as well, your replies always made my day :deco:

wait waittt... what the heck is going on here? didn't see that coming tho... are you saying that the wakamai i shipped so much is actually stepsister???!!! too much shock to handle.. yes, i have a lot to say with this chapter, so i will do it in numbering...

1) since when waka know mai is her mother's daughter?? if she knew just recently or maybe long time ago, i want to know her reaction so bad... well since she already hate maiyan because of nanase, i think she has more reasons to hate maiyan tho (i didn't like this actually but that what makes it so interesting and different) :fainted:

2) i also want to know if nanase and reika know this too and of course their reaction.. or if not, how would they react upon knowing this.. what a drama... :banghead: :banghead:

3) ahhh yeah yeahhh finally.. a sneakpeak into wakarei's life. and they're getting MARRIEDDD!! (i hope my prediction is right) :wigglypanda: my wild imaginations cannot take this anymore.. too much things at the same time.. but i'm seriously happy with this..

4) and.... waka's family sounds so dangerous...

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“You know it’s not that simple, your family has enemies. It’ll be dangerous for her,” they went silent for a few seconds before her mother said again, “at least with this, she is officially in the family too, that way she would have the full protection and wouldn’t be a weak link that people could take an advantage of.”

awww waka mama so sweet.... i'm glad that her family approve their relationship.. much more proud to have reika (soon to be wakatsuki reika) in their family.. :hee: :hee:

5) last..

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“I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her much, but from what I have heard she sounds like a great person. This is for her best too. Please do think about it.”

“Fine then. And yes, she is amazing.

in what terms reika is so amazing in your eyes waka?? :glasses:

fuhh, i don;t know i had so much to say.. wel, thanks for update and PLEASE UPDATE ASAP (just kidding) is my comments makes your day again?? :luvluv1:

btw, i just realized you update sayo imi few days ago, haven't read it but i will do it later (need time to heal from this great chapter)

Welcome back finiarel-san. I still haven't comment on the previous update in SayoImi. Its been a long time since the last update but it was worth the wait. I actually Love the one shot 'Then'. Do you have plans on writing another one??

My thoughts in this chapter was that I feel sorry for Maiyan for feeling that way. For me, it's just so sad because at first she was ecstatic on meeting her mother but turns out bad.

I totally feel Maiyan when it comes to those situations on where she felt like being alone for awhile. Huhuhuhuhuhu

Waka and Maiyan's relationship sure is complicated...Wakarei at its finest...Nanase and Maiyan ought to make some development Hahahahaha

There is nothing that I want more than to explain everything that has happened and answers every single of your question. But as you know, it is not safe for both of us. Hence, albeit limited this letter is the safest way to give you some explanation.

I was raised in an area full of filth, where most of its residents are addict or mule. When you live in that kind of environment, sooner or later it will catch up with you, and that’s basically what happened with me. The difference is instead of being a drug smuggler or maker, I destroyed other drug rings that oppose my own. I am a saboteur, that’s how they usually call it, I make sure that my employer is clear from any business opponent.

Back then, there is one division in Nogizaka company who’s selling their restricted drugs into public, making them one of the parties that need to be taken down. This is where I met your father, who was the young CEO and also the owner of the company. Everything that occurs within the company is restricted to one another, making it really hard to uncover which division is my target, so in order to find the answer, under the disguise of a new secretary I seduced your father.

When I found out I was pregnant, my world turns upside down, however, I know that it is fair to inform your father about you. He was ecstatic, to the point of asking me to marry him. Knowing that was a bit impossible, I told him the truth, but still, he wants you. After some thorough investigation, he discovered the division that illegally sells some of its product to the public and shut it down. My work was done, turns out it wasn’t that hard to do since selling restricted drugs to the public isn’t what the company is for.

Knowing that I would have to left him as soon as the work is finished, your father helped me to make up a fake scenario where I was exposed to one of the contagious virus, which caused me to be prohibited to go out in public. While the truth I moved into your father’s house, planning everything we could to welcome you to the world. For a moment, my life was normal.

But about three months after giving birth to you I know that staying is dangerous and all I want is for you to be able to live your life as normal and safe as possible. So, I made my choice to leave to return to my old life while keeping my time with your father and your secret.

Mai, it was my mistake for keeping tabs on you, which lured you into a dangerous situation. If it wasn’t for me you can live your life as you wish, I am aware of that. Which is why I am sorry. You probably wouldn’t be able to forgive me, ever, but still, I hope that at least you know that it was because I was trying to be a mother that you deserve, even now I still am.

Mai, my enemies are still out there and now that some of them know that you are my daughter, there is a possibility they will use you to get me. The government is offering to give me protection, which in turn I need to do some favor for them. I know that letting the government give you protection is not going to be good when we take into account of your condition now. Which is why I am trying to help you from my side.

I know that you are a good person. However, my very existence is a danger to you. Which is why after all of this is over I will stay out of your life and I’m hoping for you to understand and stay out of mine too.

Love,Your Mother

Shiraishi squishes the letter on her hand into a ball, squeezing it harshly as if that could make it disappear from her hold. Her head is hurting and she keeps having difficulties in breathing as if something is blocking the air into her lungs. She let her body to leaned to her right side where a park lamp is standing, using the sturdy pole to keep her body from falling to the ground.

On her other hand, lay a small picture that she hasn’t seen before today. A picture of her father, with the biggest smile from him that she has ever seen. The man is carrying a baby that Shiraishi could recognize as herself, his eyes are looking at the baby in a careful manner as if he’s afraid that showing the girl to the camera will disturb the girl’s peaceful sleep. Although it’s outside of the focus range, Shiraishi could spot her mother at the background, laying on the hospital bed, looking exhausted but happy at the same time, probably glad that the man looks dependable enough to raise the child without her.

She doesn’t need to think hard to remember when was the last time she saw her father. That time she was even hiding from him, didn’t feel like talking to him at all. The last time where they actually talked is when he came into her place and she basically kicked him out by threatening to call the police. She somehow started to laugh bitterly. Her father was too good for her, she doesn’t deserve him, not even in the slightest.

Suddenly Shiraishi felt a liquid running from her nose, as well as a sudden unbearable pain coming from several parts of her body. She averted her gaze from the picture into her pocket, her hand weakly reach in to get her phone. Sliding her thumb over the screen to unlock it before sliding up to reveal the call keypad and dial one of her speed dial.

She wasn’t even sure if the dial tone has rung or not before the other party picks up the call.

‘Maiyan, where are you?’

To think about it, she doesn’t even know where she is. What she did is just run to wherever her legs bring her to, and somehow ended up in a park that she doesn’t think has visited before.

Shiraishi Mai is lost. She has no idea where she is nor that she has any strength to stand up and look around for a sign of her whereabouts. Her artificial legs have decided stopped responding to her brain command to move for a while.

“In a park but don’t… know… which” her voice breaks, she felt like she’s crying and laughing at her stupidity for the first time. What kind of person run away only to call someone to bring her back to the very same place that she is running away from? In the end, all she does is bringing the unnecessary problem, something that she realizes she’s actually good at.

‘It’s okay, we’ll find you, okay? I’ll find you,’ her voice sounds strange in her ear, it sounds distant, as if the other person is speaking from under water.

Shiraishi nodded even though she knows that the person that she’s speaking to wouldn’t be able to see it. Her hand that is not holding the phone rubs her temple, “it hurts… It hurts so bad.”

She can’t understand most of the words that she heard. It’s not that the sounds slowly fade from her ears, but rather, her brain couldn’t decipher it as if the words are incoherent. Jumbled.

It reminds her of that night. The night where she wasn’t able to do anything but painfully lay in the middle of the street, choking on her own blood, with the very same person’s voice to be the only thing that she could hear other than her own ragged breathing. Her eyes looking straight to where her own mother was standing. Looking at her with eyes full of guilt and remorse before finally turning her back on her, walking away as if she couldn’t see that her own daughter needs help.

Why didn’t she notice it sooner? Her father was the only one who wants her. Why couldn’t she read the situation with a rational mind? Her mother, who had the heart to abandon her when she was just a baby would totally have the heart to do the same when she is suffering from an impending death.

Shiraishi Mai isn’t afraid of dying, she never was. But instead, she is afraid of abandonment. She was afraid of her mother to leave her, just like how right now she is afraid that Nishino Nanase would hang up on their call.

Was it as painful as this back then? She honestly could not remember. But she knows that all she wants is to keep hearing the voice from her phone, to make sure that there is still a person who is trying to be with her.

“Nanase.… stay with me,” she pleaded as the last of her strength seems to leave her body and pull her into the darkness, “please…. Don’t leave me…”

Everything that happens after that is a blur for her.

She remembered someone shaking her, but when she opened her eyes everything was swirling that she can’t even distinguish who the person is, all that her ears could catch is a painful ringing, which is nothing in compares to her lungs that burns as if she’s inhaling a hot water instead of air- suffocating her in every breath she took, not to mention the most likely imaginary axe that swung into her head every two seconds.

She remembered seeing a really bright light, but the moment was short-lived as the darkness is quickly pull her back to their side once more. This occurs multiple times as if the darkness and the bright light is two people that are trying to pull her onto their side.

Every time, the darkness always won. Leaving her with emptiness and discomfort until the bright light come to her again. But no matter which side she is in, she’s always alone, both sides are just similarly unwelcoming to her.

Suddenly she can hear a distant voice. Ignoring her discomfort, Shiraishi tries to focus on that voice, making sense of every single word.

“- a child. You don’t need to tell me what to do,” a voice said curtly followed by a silence. She could hear some footsteps come and go. Not long after that, a gentle squeeze on her right-hand pulls her into consciousness more “Mai?”

Slowly she tried to open her eyes, blinking a couple of times to get used to the warm light of the place, “Nanase?”

She hasn’t even taken a good look at the girl to confirm her suspicion but the person has leaned forward and given her a hug. Slowly she raised her hands, letting it lay on the girlfriend’s back to keep their distance close.

“I’m so glad you are okay,” the girl mumbled before pulling back to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Me too,” she exhaled, realizes that her agreement doesn’t really make a sense but chooses to ignore it as she doesn’t want to clarify. She isn’t glad because she is okay, she is glad that Nishino is there. She is glad that she is still by her side, unlike her mother, or her father.

Shiraishi perspiration suddenly hitched when her memories hit her. Every single thing overwhelms her brain, the thought of her old man, the thought that she practically is an orphan now, and the thought that she should be out there helping her sister to face the world without any guidance of parents instead of helplessly stuck in a facility.

“Listen to me, hey! Shiraishi-san,” another person who is standing next to the bed gently direct Shiraishi’s face to look at her, putting an oxygen mask to cover Shiraishi’s nose and mouth, “take a deep breath.”

Shiraishi tried to do as she is instructed but fail nonetheless. She reached for her chest as if to make sure her lungs are still there as it doesn’t seem to function, “can’t.”

“You can. Listen to me, you are hurting, it is hard to breathe, but you still can,” the person assures her with both hands on either of her shoulder, “try to do it with me. Take a deep breath,”

She could feel someone gently pried her hand away from her chest, giving it a gentle squeeze as if to encourage her. Shiraishi took a deep breath.

“Good. Now hold it in, 1..2, and let it go.”

And just like that, she feels a lot calmer and collected. The person smiled upon seeing this, Shiraishi can see the look of accomplishment on her face for getting the job done. Shiraishi tried to repeat the breathing pattern again and again until she feels like the obstacles that prevent the air from getting into her lungs is lifted a little, “thanks, Sakurai-san.”

“No need to thank me. Just remember that whenever you feel like it’s hard to breathe, use the oxygen mask and try to do that. You were having a panic attack, there was nothing wrong with your organs, at least it shouldn’t be as long as you try to breathe.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice sounds a bit weird because of the mask, “and when can I take this off?”

“Once you are feeling like you can breathe okay without it, but please don’t push yourself. You can also take it off and keep it somewhere in the reachable distance just in case it happens again,” Sakurai explained, observing the ceiling for the moment before looking back at her again, “I know that a lot has happened and most likely those are why you are hurting, but remember this, it was just a feeling. It hurts, but not physically. You have two option to handle this, embrace it or to tone it down by pushing it at the back of your mind.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Sakurai nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer she has gotten and took her leave, letting Shiraishi put her attention back to the girl who has been watching the whole ordeal in silent.

Shiraishi took the oxygen mask off, placing it next to her pillow before giving the girl a weak smile, she knows that she is still far from okay but she wants to assure her, “Nanase, don’t need to worry about me, okay?”

“If you say so,” the girl smiles albeit her eyes still looking sad, subtly nodded before taking a step back to sit down on a chair, letting two other women come closer so they could perform a check up on Shiraishi.

After some procedure that she is already familiar with, both of them took a step back. Fukagawa still busy scribbling on her notes and Hashimoto eyeing the oxygen mask next to her, the latter seems in a deep contemplation on how to start a conversation.

“So, how are you feeling?” she finally asked.

“Full of emotion. Did you accidentally overdose me again?”

“Actually no,” Hashimoto smiled a little. “In fact, we haven’t given you any dose since that time where you ran away with a lawyer.”

“It wasn’t like what you think!” she quickly tried to steer clear of any misunderstanding. A second after that she finally comprehends the whole sentence. “Wait, so I am currently not in any effect of emotion-inducing drugs?”

“No. Congratulation, Shiraishi-san, you did it. Well, we still have to keep you on close observation just in case, but so far it’s good.”

“I should be the one to congratulate you, if not for you I wouldn’t even be here now. Thank you so much, Hashimoto-san. And Fukagawa-san too.”

“You’re always welcome to pay us a nice dinner sometime later, I heard you have quite the taste,” Hashimoto teased with a slight chuckle.

“Don’t be rude, Nanamin,” Fukagawa reprimand the more superior scientist before turning her gaze on Shiraishi, “your welcome, Shiraishi-san. I have informed Ikuta-san that you are awake, she’s probably he-”

As if on cue the sound of the door sliding opened reached their ears, invoking Fukagawa to smile brightly, “and she’s here. We will take our leave then.”

The scientists did exchange a brief greeting with the young director before finally leaving the room, but after they are gone it’s basically just her, Nishino and the girl in the room.

“Should I leave?” Nishino asked, considering the current situation in mind.

Shiraishi shook her head, “no, it should be fine. Please, stay.”

Nishino sighed coming closer to the bed and give her a slight pat on the arm, “okay, let me get some water, do you want a glass too?”

“That would be good,” she nodded.

Ikuta clear her throat to gain her sister’s attention, calmly she started to speak, “about father. I am sorry that I didn’t tell you before.”

“What was it? The cause of his death, I mean,” she asked, ignoring the apology.

“Heart attack. I personally believe that he had a lot in mind, which cause a strain on his heart. You know that he has a heart problem.”

Shiraishi smiled bitterly, “yeah, he had always refused to get some help. What a complicated man, he didn’t even bother to question her daughter before helping her, yet didn’t do anything to help himself. He is too good that it is unfair to himself.”

“I wonder if that runs in the gene,” the younger girl remarked.

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows before deciding to brush it off, “where is he buried?”

“Next to mom. I can arrange you to visit him if you want,” Ikuta offers.

“There’s no need for that now, it’s fine. I want to focus on winning my own case first. Also, about my share of the company, I will take my claim on it as soon as the case is won. I will need your help to find some good advisor, though.”

Ikuta raised her eyebrows, wasn’t expecting Shiraishi to be more concerned about the company than her own father. “Well, if that’s what you want. Anyway, I heard from Sakurai-san you had a panic attack earlier, how are you holding up?”

“Much better actually. Sakurai taught me how to handle it, which works well for me up to this point. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this but I am currently emotionally functioning without the drugs.”

“I can see that,” Ikuta expression softened as the corner of her lips curled up into a smile, “just a little bit more and you can go home.”

“Really?” Shiraishi’s eyes widened, “Nanase, did you hear that? I can go back to sleep in our bed soon.”

On the other side of the room, Nishino is looking to anywhere but Shiraishi, noticing this Shiraishi’s eyebrows furrowed. She hadn’t gotten any chance to question her weird response because her attention is taken back by Ikuta soon after that.

“Eh- well, I can’t say for sure if you will be fit enough to live in your penthouse, I was referring to our home. The family’s house to be exact. Over there, there will be people that could help and check up on you every now and then,” the younger one corrected her statement.

Shiraishi frowns, not liking the fact that she can’t go back to her own place soon. Since her last year of senior high school, she has been living on her own, only coming back to the huge mansion once or twice a week to visit her sister or her father. The thought of coming back to the house without the presence of her father sitting down on the garden’s breakfast table in the morning bothers her.

“It’s okay I will come to visit you every day,” Nishino broke her train of thought and hand her a glass of water, “even if you could go back to our place you'd probably be alone since I’m currently living with Yumi-chan and Reika-chan anyway.”

“Just wait until the honeymoon, I’m pretty sure you’d be itching to move out by then,” Shiraishi muttered in annoyance, realizing the fact that Nishino is not living on their place anymore slipped out of her mind.

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Realizing her slip of tongue Shiraishi shrugged and drank every drop of water in the glass. She suddenly remembers that there is another matter that she wants to set straight and the thought of it reminds her of the accident. Shiraishi calmed herself using the method that Sakurai taught her, making sure that her breathing is already stable before reaching for her girlfriend, “Nanase, is Wakatsuki-san here?”

“Yes, she’s outside I suppose.”

“Then can you please call her in. Um- and Sakurai-san too. There’s something that I need to tell the two of you and also them,” Shiraishi explained.

Nishino looks confused on the unexpected request, but thankfully chose not to ask furthermore, “Okay then, I’ll be right back.”

Seeing this Ikuta also looks at the girl on the bed with full curiosity, “is this about the café outing that you had with Wakatsuki-san?”

Shiraishi nodded, closing her eyes to calm down her pounding heart, her brain starting to select which one she needs to tell them and which one needs to be kept secret. She realizes that they need to know the truth. However, she is also aware that the topic could turn into something dangerous and there is no way she would put the people that she cares about in harm’s way just because of a foolish mistake that she made. Losing her father has taught her a lesson to protect the two people that she has left, keeping herself from losing someone ever again.

~To Be Continued~

A/N:Hiiiii! Sorry for being so slow :bow: I was having a horrible writer's block :bleed eyes:

Okay so this chapter starts with the letter that was given to Maiyan in last chapter, I was really torn on whether to include the letter or not, but after some consideration I feel like it's probably needed to understand the past. Just as planned the whole backstory centering around the accident will be told in the next chapter, I hope you'd be looking forward to that as well :deco:

Thanks for reading, :cow:Replies:

@wakaten

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wait waittt... what the heck is going on here? didn't see that coming tho... are you saying that the wakamai i shipped so much is actually stepsister???!!! too much shock to handle..

told ya there will be plot twist ;) but well, Wakamai romantic shipping will have to go to another story :nervous

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1) since when waka know mai is her mother's daughter?? if she knew just recently or maybe long time ago, i want to know her reaction so bad... well since she already hate maiyan because of nanase, i think she has more reasons to hate maiyan tho (i didn't like this actually but that what makes it so interesting and different)

I couldn't say much at this point, but I can say that you are right that Waka's reason for hating Maiyan is not just Nanase, her family also one of the reason why she doesn't like Maiyan that much.

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2) i also want to know if nanase and reika know this too and of course their reaction.. or if not, how would they react upon knowing this.. what a drama...

I kind of let it known in this chapter that Nanase and Reika has yet to know about this, and Maiyan is going to come clean to them about it.

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4) and.... waka's family sounds so dangerous. waka mama so sweet.... i'm glad that her family approve their relationship.. much more proud to have reika (soon to be wakatsuki reika) in their family.. in what terms reika is so amazing in your eyes waka??

Yes, Waka's family is kind of dangerous. and all hail the WakaRei ship :cow: About why Reika is amazing in Waka's eyes, I'd leave that to your imagination XD

Thank you so much for the comment. I was surprised you even put it in bullet points :shocked it flatters me that you are into this story at least as much as I am into writing it :twothumbs@Janix123Hi there :)

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I actually Love the one shot 'Then'. Do you have plans on writing another one??

My thoughts in this chapter was that I feel sorry for Maiyan for feeling that way. For me, it's just so sad because at first she was ecstatic on meeting her mother but turns out bad.

I totally feel Maiyan when it comes to those situations on where she felt like being alone for awhile. Huhuhuhuhuhu

Waka and Maiyan's relationship sure is complicated...Wakarei at its finest...Nanase and Maiyan ought to make some development Hahahahaha

About writing another one shot, I can say that I have plan on writing another one. Probably not as thorough as 'Then' but still it counts for something. My main problem now is that I've been really bad in managing my time. Something that I'm really trying to fix during the past couple of days :panic:

And yes, Maiyan past is full of people leaving her and that kind of shape the person she is now.

Awww, I sometimes feel like being alone, but sitting still and contemplates on my problem usually doesn't work well for me, I'm more of a distraction person, the more problem that I have the more I'd try to distract myself with pointless stuff.

All abroad the WakaRei ship. And yea sorry if WakaMai relationship is too complicated :nervous NanaMai development would need to wait as the two of them still has some unspoken problem. The story will work towards how are they going to handle this and the outcome :glasses:

Thanks for the comment, I hope you'd like this chapter as well :cow:

@clin-nolan

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I did not expect them to be sisters :panic: :panic:Now I have even more curiosity about Maiyan's story I hope you can update when it is possible for you :D :twothumbs

Hi there ;)I'm so glad I totally got you with the plot twist, that kind of assures me that it's working just as I planned :cathappy:There are still more about Maiyan past, I'll do my best to deliver them :cow:Thanks for the comment, hoping you are liking the new chapter as well :deco:

Hello :DI liked this chapter although the letter made me feel a bit sad for Mai :sweatdrop:My expectations were overcome :twothumbsI have no idea what Maiyan wants to say to WakaRei :panic: :panic:I am anxious to know more about this story :?I hope that soon you update author-san :bow: :heart: :heart:

If your parent was spying on you what would be the most logical thing to do? For Shiraishi, the answer is to secretly follow him and see who is the guy who helped him. And that’s basically what she has been doing for the past few days.

Well, the man has been basically out and about in the city, taking care of his business, the same old boring stuff that Shiraishi has known for long. However, today is probably her lucky day, his car is going around an area that he usually has nothing to do with. She swiftly hides at the back of a dumpster in the nearest alley, watching intently as the man stepped out of the car, giving a signal to the driver to circle around as there is no place to park in the area.

Slowly she started to move closer, following him in silence as she kept their distance safe. There is no way her father would walk into a creepy new york’s alley if not he has to do something in secret and Shiraishi suspects that he will meet the person. The scum who was sent to spy on her.

Her phone suddenly rang, almost snapped her out of cover if not for her quickly shutting it off while blending with the passerby. It’s probably Nishino, they sort of decided on-call schedule, where they can talk to each other without disturbing other’s works. Right now, is their usual time for calling and keeping up with each other life. Shiraishi silently mumbled an apology to the girl that’s a thousand miles away.

She needs to do this. She needs to make sure her father has no chance to ever spy on her again.

Shiraishi freezes when she heard a woman voice coming from the alley talking to her father. A voice that she had only heard years ago yet somehow still familiar to her. Hidden behind the dumpster once again, Shiraishi calmed her racing heart, slowly collecting her courage to peek into the alley, concentrating so she could be able to hear the conversation.

“I think you have heard me perfectly when I said I will take care of the situation.” Her father said. His intonation is strict and cold, something that Shiraishi has heard a couple of time when he is lecturing his workers.

“You didn’t exactly take care of the situation. You were just asking her to move to another university, which wouldn’t exactly solve the whole problem. As long as she is here, in this country, she is in danger. I don’t care if she wants to quit the university or not. What’s important here is keeping her from too many public eyes, bring her back to Japan where you can get someone to protect her.”

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows not believing what she had just heard. For all these years, she had thought the woman doesn’t keep tabs on her, not even knowing that she is her daughter.

Turns out she was wrong.

Shiraishi wondered why the woman thinks she in danger as she herself feels as safe as she could be now.

Except. Except for that photographs.

Little by little Shiraishi sew one piece to the other, losing her focus on her parents’ argument and starting to gain an understanding of what is possibly happening. Someone was taking photographs of her and her mother telling her father to bring her back to Japan. This can be related. No- “can” would be a miscalculation. This must be related.

“It’s your fault from the first place! If it wasn’t for you coming to watch her play, none of them would ever suspect that she is your daughter. You haven’t changed at all, always blaming your mess to someone else.” Her father said in utter disgust. “And you don’t even know her at all. Letting her girlfriend knows that she is having an affair will strengthen her decision to stay here. Now that she has basically no one to go home to.”

Shiraishi took a deep breath, one of her hand, who’s holding her phone in her hoodie pocket suddenly feel cold and clammy. Was that the reason Nishino called her earlier? Because she finds out what had happened?

“You dare to judge me while you who are supposed to be taking care of her all these years couldn’t even speak to her without shouting at the top of your lungs?”

And the argument begins.

Shiraishi wasn’t even able to follow the conversation anymore, her heart was torn and confused. Afraid of facing Nishino. Afraid of admitting the past that she is not proud of. Afraid of what will happen because she is probably a target of something dangerous.

She stayed there crouching against a dirty dumpster cold wall. Feeling like her world has been torn apart. She was too lost in her own thought that she didn’t notice it when her parents finally stopped arguing. Her father fled the alley first, followed by her mother.

Suddenly Shiraishi stood up and started to run, hoping that her mother hasn’t walked too far away. She looked at each of the passerby features, scolding herself when she couldn’t even remember the color of the dress that her mother is wearing.

“Were you following me?”

The question jolted Shiraishi out of her search. She turned back and see the woman, standing right behind her, a gentle look on her face.

With that kind of composed look. It’s hard to believe that just a few minutes ago, the very same woman was yelling and arguing with her father.

“I-” Shiraishi took a deep breath “I need to ask you a few questions.”

The woman raised her eyebrows. Waiting for her daughter to continue.

“What do you mean by I am in danger. What kind of danger?”

The older one sighed. Her gaze wanders around before finally speaking up. “About a few blocks from where you live, there is a 24 hours grocery, right? This evening, around 9 PM go there and buy something. I’ll meet you at the 3rd intersection you will pass on your way back and we will talk.”

“And why do I need to buy grocery again?” Shiraishi asked in confusion.

“Because you will stay over at my place until everything is settled and there is basically no food in the fridge. Oh, don’t worry about clothes, that I have a lot.” The woman said coyly as if it is just a simple sleepover plan. “I’ll see you tonight.”

The woman has somehow walked out from her vision quickly and before she could even try to find her again, she was gone, disappeared in the middle of the city’s busy walkers. Shiraishi sighed, taking out the phone in her pocket as she started to slowly walk home. Rearranging her words in her mind, carefully selecting what would be the best to explain everything to her girlfriend.

Sometimes, there are days when there are lots to do however you ended up with doing nothing at all. That is basically what happened on Shiraishi Mai that day. After she reached her messy and gloomy flat, she found herself laying on the bed without the urge to do anything. She had even fallen into a not so peaceful slumber.

Not before she had started to walk back from the grocery she finally got the courage to turn her phone on. Smiling bitterly when she sees dozens of messages that Nishino has left before deleting all the notification away from the screen and dial her number.

Nishino Nanase picks up the call on the third dial tone.

“Is this a bad time to talk?” Shiraishi asked, which is followed by some sounds of rustling from the other end.

‘No. You can talk.’ From the coldness of her voice, she knows that her girlfriend must have found out about the pictures and definitely not amused.

“Nanase I cheated on you,” Shiraishi admitted. “It’s not out of love- it’s…. I did it to score better roles in the play. I am so sorry. I know that apology wouldn’t be enough but now that’s all I can say.”

There is nothing from the other end, not even an acknowledgement that she is still there and hearing everything that Shiraishi said. “Nanase? Please say something.”

'Fine. Was it your idea?’

“He was known to be easily swayed. But yeah, I was the one who suggested it.” Shiraishi admitted, her chest felt a bit heavy from all the remorse. “I am sorry.”

'How about the one who took the picture?’

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows “what about it?”

'Mai, are they trying to blackmail you or something? Because someone was definitely following you around taking pictures of you, know about your relationship with me, and the house address.’

“That would be my mother.” Shiraishi sighed. “She has a fun way to show her daughter that she cares.”

'Your mother? I thought you didn’t know her.’

“I still don’t. Well, long story short, she is caught in some sort of dangerous situation and now trying to have me quit the school and send me back to Japan with whatever it takes.” Shiraishi starting to tremble as the frustration finally reached her. “My life right now is a mess. You wouldn’t even believe me. I have moved out from my apartment. My father isn’t even funding my education anymore. It’s like the fate has finally beat me down. Tempting me to resort to something simpler as long as it would do me good.”

'Mai, are you okay? Do you need any help?’

Shiraishi shook her head, clenching the grocery bag even tighter as if it will fly away if she doesn’t. “I am not okay, but I will be fine. I am hanging up. I am going to meet her now.”

'Mai, wait! if she’s involved in something dangerous, I think you should just let this matter go and go back to Japan. Your dad is also still around, isn’t he? At least you can come with him and talk to her.’

Shiraishi can spot concern on the other girl’s voice. If the situation was different she would have teased the girl for forgiving her affair so easily. But now isn’t the exactly a great time for bad ice breaker.

“My father and I aren’t exactly the best buddy right now. Besides, if not now I think it will be hard to find her again. I have nothing left anymore, I want to know what is it that makes her destroy everything that I have.”

'I have bad feelings about this.’ Nishino murmured. 'Can you please at least consider what I said? Please? Or postpone for a few days and I will find a way to come and accompany you. Just left this matter go for now.’

During her deep contemplation earlier Shiraishi Mai has decided that she will be the one who assess the level of the situation and not before she knows that it is safe she would let anyone that she cares about getting dragged into a hairy situation. So, she gritted her teeth and gave her response. “Listen to me, this is what I need to do for myself.”

'Even so, you can let me help you. You have never let me help you, not even a bit. Always shouldering everything alone. You’re obviously burdening yourself right now,’ A voice replied through the call

Suddenly she felt like cheated, as if Nishino has no right to say that to her, to tell her what to do even after all that she has done. “You’ve done enough for me. Stop accusing me of shouldering things alone, while the truth you also did that to me.”

'Did what? I’ve always told you my problems.’

“BUT, YOU’VE NEVER GIVEN ME A CHANCE TO HELP YOU. JUST LIKE HOW YOU’VE NEVER TRIED TO LISTEN TO ME.” Her tone leapt a few octaves higher to her own surprise. She stopped realizing she is already in a place where she is supposed to meet her mother. However, when she looked right and left and find that the street is empty.

Shiraishi sighed, trying to calm herself down. Her feet started to walk down the street to cross. Trying not to feel disappointed upon the absence of her mother at what’s supposed to be their meeting location. “So now you’re blaming me for not wanting to trouble you. Nanase, You know what-”

BWEEEEEEEEEP

She had actually prepared to let out some insults that would have to break their fragile relationship even more if not for the sudden force that knocked her off her feet and slam her body down on the cold pavement. The world seems to move slower than usual. Every inch of her body hurts as if she had just gotten multiple hits from her softball bat. Even that would probably hurt less than what she is feeling.

Slowly, she tried to open her eyes, trying to ignore the iron taste of liquid in her mouth, preventing her from breathing freely. She is laying down chest first on the pavement, one of her hand couldn’t even respond to her brain command, while the other is laying on the puddle of blood coming from her body.

It was surprising that so many of her blood has been gone from her body yet she is still breathing. Her eyes land the phone a few centimetres in front of her. Something that should have been easy to reach if not for a massive sting she felt from various place in her body without even a single movement.

Her ears are ringing painfully, not letting her to comprehend whatever it is that Nishino is saying on the phone. Her voice probably came out like a weird screech instead of an actual call for help.

Her eyes shot upwards. Catching a glimpse of a figure that she remembers very well. Wearing simple dark boots, jeans and red shirt was her mother. Funny how she finally notes the other woman clothing preference when she is barely breathing.

That’s right. Her mother is here. Shiraishi feels like she is on top of the cloud. Because now that the woman is there she feels like everything is going to be fine. A help will come soon and-

Wait, what is she doing?

Shiraishi’s eyes widened when the woman turned her back on her. Hands clenched on sides as her foot started to walk away. Shiraishi wanted to shout, to scream, to let her know that she is there with half of her body is still under the car that is thankfully high enough to keep her body from being crushed.

CRACKKKK

During her teenage years, Shiraishi had watched a horror movie a couple of times, where the main character would accidentally break her leg, or somehow get cut with a chainsaw, or something even more horrible to understand, but the actual sound of a broken bone is even more horrible than that. It’s like a gunshot to her ear. And the pain was sharp, gut-wrenching, and unbearable. Yes, it is so unbearable that Shiraishi Mai wished she can just pass out and die right there.

Well, she did pass out there but she didn’t die. Or at least didn’t actually die.

Shiraishi exhaled.

Inhaled.

Exhaled.

And Inhaled once more. Calming herself from the past memory that is suddenly haunting her.

Throwing her gaze from left to right she can see that her sister, her girlfriend, Wakatsuki and also Sakurai have gathered around her bed. Sakurai just like Nishino is giving her a look of confusion, the first clearly have no clue on why Shiraishi needs her to be present as well, while the other one still couldn’t comprehend the relationship between everything and Wakatsuki. Meanwhile, Wakatsuki looks nervous, knowing that the one on the bed will reveal something that they have been silently kept a secret for a while.

“You see,” Shiraishi started earning a full attention from everyone around her, “when Wakatsuki-san took me out. It wasn’t just a normal lawyer-client outing. Rather, it was a family reunion.”

Shiraishi looks at the crumpled paper on her hand, the letter from her mother that had somehow still in her hand at the time they found her in that park. Shiraishi sighed, trying to shoo away the most likely emotional pain in her chest.

“In the next trial, the government is going to reveal their trump card. That trump card is my mother. She will be working with them. It shouldn’t be surprising considering how unimportant I am compared to her other daughter that is also here right now. But thankfully, she still had a bit of conscience to gives us a heads up.”

The girls looked at each other, trying to decipher who is the daughter that Shiraishi is speaking of. Wakatsuki averted her eyes to the plain white blanket on Shiraishi’s body. Clenching her hands as she finally made her decision to speak up.

“The truth is that woman is also my mother. That’s why I took Shiraishi-san out, it was all upon my mother’s request,” she bit her lower lip before continuing her words further with a deep bow apology, “I am really sorry for causing so much trouble.”

“No, you are not,” Shiraishi shook her head, “you have nothing to apologize for. It’s actually good that you let me meet her first. Thank you, Wakatsuki-san, it means so much to me.”

“O-okay, are you saying that Wakatsuki-san is actually your sister?” Ikuta interrupted the moment, earning a curious look from Sakurai and Nishino too.

“Biologically, yes, we have the same mother. But you see, the circumstances are difficult. I don’t know if you have read this letter or not, but- that woman is not only involved in something dangerous, she is also dangerous. That’s why it’s best if we stay out of her business. You too, Wakatsuki-san.”

“I know.”

“Good.” Shiraishi gives the girl a little smile, realizing that if circumstances are different they might be able to get along really well. She averted her eyes to Ikuta, “I know that I already said that I will go with whatever plan that you decide with Wakatsuki and I’m not going to change that. But I want the two of you to keep in mind that despite what she said and her relation to me, my mother is still the enemy.”

“I am aware of that. Our situation is really good now. I heard from Hashimoto-san that you don’t need to take the drugs to enhance your emotion anymore, don’t you?”

Shiraishi nodded.

“Then that will add to our advantage, as long as you can prove them that you are suited to live without your mother then it will be good.” Ikuta declared. A hesitant smile appears on her lips.

“Actually, there is something else that would ensure our win,” Shiraishi smiled, not the soft kind of smile that looks gentle on her face but more like the one with one corner of her lip tug upwards, the one that makes her looks dangerous. “We have never talked about this before, but on the night of my accident, is there any street camera footage of it?”

Ikuta and Nishino expression turn gloomy all of sudden, but knowing that Shiraishi is waiting for her explanation, Ikuta speaks up, “Even with the footage, the police couldn’t find a match between the guy who was driving with anyone in the database. They only found the car left abandoned in the street. The case was closed as they couldn’t find anything else after a few months.”

“No, we are not looking for the culprit of the accident, but rather the witness. You see, my mother was one of them.”

Wakatsuki looks surprised, “are you saying that you saw her on that night?”

“Yes, in fact, that intersection is supposed to be our meeting point that night. So, I reckon with the video footage, you can totally spot her there.”

“I actually don’t get it,” Sakurai suddenly breaks her silence. “Even though we can spot her, but isn’t it just going to help their case more? I mean that shows that she cares about Shiraishi-san. Well, forgive me to say this but at this point, I think we need to point out the fact that she has never been present in Shiraishi-san’s life.”

“Well, if we really manage to find the whole footage, you will see that the street was basically empty, it was just me and her at the time the car ran into me, yet she walked away from the accident instead of rushing to help me. That’s totally not a what a good mother would do, isn’t it?”

“That’s insane, you-you’re going to send her to prison,” Wakatsuki said in disbelieves.

“Do you think I care?” Shiraishi snapped. “I am sorry but I have learnt the hard way that motherly love is not going to save me. It already cost my life once, I am not letting it happen again.”

Everyone in the room fell into silence. Wakatsuki biting her lower lips, a habit that she does whenever she’s cornered.

“Look, I can understand if you don’t want to do this. It’s okay to back down. However, I think you don’t need to worry much about the mother. She is smart, I am pretty sure she will manage to find a way out if the situation goes bad for her.” Shiraishi said softly.

“It’s fine. I will do it. We’re going to use your way,” Wakatsuki unexpectedly agrees. “But you see, we are not going to re-open the case, just use that exact footage to prove her liability as a mother.”

“That’s the only thing that I’m asking for. Thank you, Wakatsuki-san, I am really glad that we have you in our case,” Shiraishi grinned, her last sentence sounds like it has a hidden meaning into it, something that she is trying to hide.

On the other hand, Wakatsuki doesn’t answer, her expression still tense, Shiraishi knows that she is afraid of her leaking another secret. But Shiraishi knows that revealing that is something that will be dangerous, which is why she decided to stop the conversation straight away before it goes further into a forbidden territory.

“That’s all I have to say,” Shiraishi ends her explanation, earning some relief exhales from some of them. She averts her eyes to Nishino, who has been silent through the entire conversation. “Nanase, are you okay?”

“How long have you known about Yumi-chan being your sister?” She asked.

“A few months after that time she punched me in the face. But I have no idea about how long she has known though, our mom didn’t exactly introduce us to each other.”

Nishino nodded, locking their eyes for a moment before saying, “I can understand that the situation was more complicated than how it looks. However, it was also dangerous. So please, don’t do more than what’s necessary.”

“Come here,” Shiraishi gestured her to come closer, gently pulling her into an embrace when the young girl finally within an arms reach distance. “What’s done is done. There’s no need to worry about that anymore, okay?”

She gives Nishino a gentle pull to land a kiss on the side of her head, eyes throwing a meaningful look to Wakatsuki who is observing the whole interaction.

~ To Be Continued ~

AN:The whole recap of the accident is here. Well, by the end of this chapter you can see that there is totally something else to it. Or at least some involvement from Maiyan's mom. This is a really vital chapter that was planned from the beginning of the story. A lot has actually change because the circumstances and me having too much fun playing around, but this chapter has not changed at all, this is still how the accident is supposed to be :nervous I really hope some changes that I have made along the way isn't making this illogical and OMG trust me it's really hard to rewrite Maiyan and Naachan phone dialogue (if you remember it was in the first chapter as well) and merge it with the actual plotline :cool1:

So Hi again in 2018, if you have time, please check out my One Shot thread, I post a one shot that is based on this timeline over there, but it wasn't actually related to the plot so you're not really missing anything important. But you would be missing a fluffy short NanaMai drabble :oops: I am really really thankful for all the support that this story has gotten it was iven read more than 10k times, which is kind of unbelievable yet flattering at the same time :deco:

replies:@clin-nolan

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I liked this chapter although the letter made me feel a bit sad for Mai :sweatdrop:My expectations were overcome :twothumbsI have no idea what Maiyan wants to say to WakaRei :panic: :panic:I am anxious to know more about this story :?I hope that soon you update author-san :bow: :heart: :heart:

Hi there!, I hope you are liking this chapter as well. Well you can find out about what Maiyan wants to say to WakaRei, it's basically an explanation of her quick trip outside with Waka. Hahahahah don't be anxious, that kind of makes me nervous as well as I am obliged to give more surprise :cathappy: This update is a bit delayed but I hope it's still worth it :deco:

I had not had time to read it by the university :doh:Thanks for updating and I was waiting for it :heart: :DI wonder if Reika already knew that Waka and Maiyan are sisters :?Knowing how was Maiyan's accident left me with a bitter taste, so I am not surprised or upset by what she plans to do against her motherAbout the drabble of NanaMai it was great to imagine it even though it was short :heart: :heart:I'll wait to see what happens :twothumbs :D

Ikuta let out a slight hum, grabbing the older girl’s hand as she led her to the front porch. The door swung open before she could even ring the front door bell, revealing a friendly face that Shiraishi hasn’t seen in years.

“Ijiri-san, you’re still working here?”

“There’s no other place I’d rather be,” the middle-aged man said with a grin. “Welcome back, Ojou-san. I’m happy to see you well.”

“Likewise,” Shiraishi throw her gaze around the room, where almost nothing has changed since the last time she was there, which kind of reminds her that her father isn’t there. Her father admires interior design and he often changes the house decoration according to the idea that he has in his mind.

She sadly smiled, thinking that it’s ironic how she missed him so much despite how she spent the last year before the accident loathing him. Making her way past the hallway and took the stairs, heading to where her room is, she stopped when she noticed one of many pictures that are hanged on the wall. A picture of a couple which is her father and her mother who was probably in her last days of pregnancy when it was taken.

“Ijiri-san?” She called, waiting for the man to appear at the beginning of the stairs before speaking up. “Please take down every picture of my mother. She has no right to be a part of the house.”

It took the butler a couple of seconds before nodding obediently, “will do, Ojou-san. Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

But instead of Shiraishi, Ikuta was the one who spoke up, “I want some parfait.”

“Right away, Ojou-chan.”

Ikuta grabbed Shiraishi hand, basically pulling her along before they stopped in front of a door. Human has manners to knock decorates the wooden door. A custom-made sign that was made especially for her, a gift from one of her friends in the high school which was inspired from her story of having the house worker barging in when she was in the middle of a sexually intimate activity.

Ikuta reached into her pocket and bring out a single key. “I have asked them to come in and clean it up a bit yesterday. I hope you won’t mind.”

“It’s fine.” Shiraishi took the key from Ikuta’s hand, running a finger over it for a moment. She made a mental note to find an unused keychain or buy a new one. She always had a keychain over every single of her keys, not having it makes it feels strange and foreign in her hand.

Ikuta has departed to her room when Shiraishi finally stepped into the room, suddenly feeling nostalgic of everything that has ever happened in that bedroom. Her first-time meeting Ikuta, her first time having a friend sleeping over, her first kiss.

She sat on the bed, snatching weird looking white ball-like plushie that was sitting next to the pillows, hugging it close to her chest. Slowly she lied down, staring at the ceiling that is filled with little stars decoration that will glow in the dark, her hands are admiring the smooth texture of the plushie. Nostalgia crept into her mind, how she used to mock the creature- calling it ugly. Yet she was still keeping that thing in her room. Funny, but maybe that’s how love works. Still, not before one of a big decision that she has ever made happened she finally held it tight for the first time.

She must have been either bored or tired that she fell asleep. However, the sound of her door closing rouses her up, almost causing her to bump her elbow into a person who has quietly sit next to her.

“Hey,” the person greeted, smiling a little when Shiraishi started to change her position so she could see the other face clearly from below.

“You should have woken me up,” Shiraishi said softly.

“You didn’t even wake up when I knocked on the door so I figured you must be tired,” she replied, hand letting go of the pencil that she’s holding to give Shiraishi a gentle squeeze. “Yumi-chan is also here. By the way, she needs to talk to you about something.”

“Do you think she will still be here if I slept for another 3 hours or so?”

“I think she will.” Nishino Nanase chuckled. “But you will skip dinner if you go back to sleep, which won’t be good.”

“Well can I just eat you for dinner?”

Nishino sighed, “now is not the time for that.”

“Sorry, that was a bad joke.” Shiraishi grinned as she sat up, pulling the other girl into a kiss quickly after that. “But seriously, now that I’m out, what will become of us?”

“What do you mean?”

“We are obviously not at the stage we were before and you’re also living with Wakatsuki now. I was actually thinking- will you say yes if I ask you to move in with me?” She proposed. “We don’t even need to share the same room, this house has at least 5 empty bedrooms and you can take whatever that you want. I just want to be near you, I guess.”

Nishino expression changed into a closed off and nervous one, something that Shiraishi hadn’t seen for quite a long time. “That- I don’t know. I will need to talk to Yumi-chan first.”

“Why so!? You’re an adult and Wakatsuki is not even your spouse or anything, you should be able to make a decision without her.” Shiraishi snapped. Not a seconds later she realized that she is being too pushy so she gulped down her worry. “I’m sorry, I’m just- I am worrying about things of the past.”

Nishino nodded, eyes gazing at her girlfriend’s. She noticed that ever since Shiraishi has gotten her emotion back she’d often lose control of it. Which is slowly progressing for the better, but still her girlfriend’s temper raised easily.

“There’s nothing to worry about, okay? We should just focus on the future ahead of us instead of looking back.” Nishino gives another peck on her lips. “Now, I think you need to talk to Yumi-chan, get this thing over with so we can eat a dinner in peace afterwards.”

Shiraishi let the younger girl pull her out of the bed, her fingers on Nishino’s waist while Nishino’s hand hovered around her back. She didn’t really pay any attention to where her girlfriend is leading her to, she was too caught up with observing Nishino’s features, the way the sunset rays seeping through the windows and reflects on the artist’s skin.

“Shiraishi-san,” the young lawyer greeted as she entered one of the house living rooms, the one that is usually used for a guest that is not considered close, which means that the room majorly used to conduct a business meeting.

“Wakatsuki,” Shiraishi greeted politely, eyes hovering to a stranger that is standing next to her. “And who might this be?”

“Osamu Shitara, I’m the head of the law firm where Wakatsuki-san works.” The man introduced himself accordingly, holding out a hand for Shiraishi to shake.

“Ah- nice to meet you, Shitara-san. If I may know, to what do I earn the honor of your visit?”

“All business kind of woman, aren’t you?” His laugh at the end of his sentence makes him looks less stiff and more approachable. “But please, I believe it’s better if we talk while enjoying the cakes that you have so kindly provide us.”

Shiraishi nodded, taking a seat on one of the armchairs around the table, while Wakatsuki and Shitara sat on the long sofa with the latter scooting near to Shiraishi’s side.

“I’ll be sitting near the bookshelves,” Nishino whispered, leaving a quick peck on Shiraishi’s cheek before walking to the other side of the room and sit on the chair, where a laptop that’s probably hers is already laid out on the study desk.

“As you know, next week you’ll be going on a trial against your mother, where she’s demanding a full custody of you as she deemed Nogizaka to be illegally taking your full custody. However, as much as I would be keen on representing you, that could be filed in the conflict of interest because of my status as her legitimate daughter. Which is why Shitara-san will be going in my place, I have already briefed him on all of our plans and he will proceed accordingly, so you will have nothing to worry about. In fact, he is more senior than me so the trial could go even smoother.”

Shiraishi frowned, feeling a bit dissatisfied that Wakatsuki wouldn’t be the one that represents her, but she knows that the young lawyer has no other choice and this is probably the best solution that is available for them. “Fine, I’ll be counting on you then, Shitara-san. I hope you will live up to your astonishing reputation.”

Shitara gave her a big smile, “this is an easy case, with all the prove and witness that we will bring to their table, there’s no way she could ever get her hands on you. Trust me.”

“Yes, we do. Would you like to see it?” Shitara offered, his hands carefully gripping his laptop bag, however, Shiraishi shook her head.

“No need to. I kind of hate relieving that moment, already seen in enough in the form of endless nightmares. I’m just making sure that you got it.”

“I can understand. Well, I promise you I’ll do my best to help you, Shiraishi-san. Wakatsuki-san will send you my contact details. Is there any other question you got for me?”

“Nothing for now, but I’ll contact you if there’s anything.”

“Good, well then, I guess I have to leave. Thanks for having me.” He stood up, followed by Wakatsuki and Shiraishi.

After brief parting words and another handshake, the young lawyer led him outside, leaving Shiraishi alone with Nishino in the room. She was about to pull Nishino back into her room when one of the housemaids come to tell them that the dinner is served.

“Now I kind of miss that terrarium,” Shiraishi mumbled as she held Nishino close and walked to the garden-side dining room. Maybe because somehow moving in is draining her emotionally and the huge mansion makes it even more hard to bare.

Nishino frowned, “terrarium?”

“You know that place where they keep me in the company. All windows, people most likely observing me from outside. It’s like a terrarium, isn’t it? Like I’m a fish, acting like I don’t care what’s happening outside with all of the people that are observing me.”

“You know that terrarium has no water and fish needs water, right? Your analogy is a bit off,” Nishino pointed out.

“Seriously, that’s what you are concerned about, not the fact that I miss that place? You’re weird.”

“Well you’re the one making an illogical analogy and as you have said yourself- missing a place where you have no privacy.” Nishino rolled her eyes jokingly. “Weirdo.”

“We’ll figure out what’s the best word to describe you later. After the dinner,” Nishino smiled, averting her eyes from her lover to give a brief look at people that are conversing around the dinner table.

“Here, she is,” Ikuta announced excitedly, earning Shiraishi a look from every single person in the room.

“Here I am, I guess.” Shiraishi shrugged, her lips starting to curl into a bright smile as she identifies each of the people in the room.

Hashimoto Nanami and Fukagawa Mai that seems to be explaining some breakthrough discovery to Wakatsuki Yumi, who has her forehead wrinkled from trying to understand all the scientific language that both of them are using. Sakurai Reika has her arm latched onto the later, seemingly more interested to look at the bright diamond on her finger rather than the conversation itself.

Nishino had left her to her own devices to talk to Takayama Kazumi, who came with a young woman that she has never seen before, but from the way the android designer seems to gravitate around the cheerful looking person she can conclude that the person is not just a friend.

And the last is Ikuta, who was busy telling something to the house butler, probably making sure that the dinner is well arranged. Ikuta being really specific when it comes to food is something that Shiraishi has known by heart. But there is a familiar face beside her, a young woman probably still around Ikuta’s age who wear a plain white shirt and jeans. Shiraishi, sure she has seen her before but couldn’t point out when or where.

Seeing how her sister's eyes were on her in a silent demand of explanation, Ikuta finishes her instruction and led the person to approach Shiraishi.

“Himetan, I would like you to meet my sister- Shiraishi Mai. And likewise Onee-chan, this is Nakamoto Himeka.” Ikuta introduced them.

Shiraishi smiled, taking the girls hand with her in a gentle handshake. “it’s a pleasure to meet you, really. Erika here doesn’t really have any friend, so I am always glad if she manages to bring someone home.”

“She is always busy with her work, but I am sure Erika-chan has her own share of friends too, one being her amazing sister that she gushed a lot on.” The long-haired girl replied, her smile reveals a dimple on the side of her face.

“Himetan works at Cinq Étoiles, the café where Waka took you to meet your mother. She was also the one who found you in the park that day.” Ikuta ignored the girl teasing and resort to inform her sister about something that is more serious.

The girl looks embarrassed, smiling sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head. “It’s fine, I’m glad to help.”

“I’m glad that we have you around too.” From the gleaming proud look that can be seen in Ikuta’s face, it can be known that the girl means something more to her. However, Shiraishi decided not to push it further, thinking that her sister will eventually tell her about it once she is ready. She throws her gaze around the small gathering and asked curiously, “so, what’s the occasion?”

“Takayama-san had wanted to make you a farewell party, but I think what needs to be celebrated is the fact you’re back home, so I persuaded her to let me throw you a welcome home party instead,” Ikuta explained before slurping the white wine on her hand. “I’m not sure about who you’d be comfortable to dine with, so I’m just inviting those I’m sure you won’t mind. Well, except Takayama-san girlfriend, that one kind of crash the party without an invitation.”

She doesn’t know if Ikuta realized it or not but this is the first time Shiraishi ever felt truly belong in a dinner party that took place in the house. Usually, albeit having her as an excuse it is more of a formality and networking event, where she would care less about almost every single guest.

Shiraishi felt her chest goes warmer as if a little jolt of happiness is exploding inside.

“T- this is perfect, thank you.” She said, not waiting for another second before pulling her sister into a tight hug.

~ To Be Continued ~

AN:

I was actually rearanging a little bit of stuff before decided to write this one, the initial plan was to have a little bit of a flashback of what happened after Maiyan accident, like what Nishino did and stuff. But considering we already have a flashback last chap I think it will be better to wait and probably after this the flashback will be about something less heavier before we get around to more bad stuff. :nervous But I'm not sure. There is still Naachan entire flashback chapter that I have yet to figure out where to put, but we'll see ;)

ANYWAY MAIYAN CENTER WHOOP!!! LETS PARTYYYY

replies:@clin-nolan:

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I had not had time to read it by the university :doh:Thanks for updating and I was waiting for it :heart: :DI wonder if Reika already knew that Waka and Maiyan are sisters :?Knowing how was Maiyan's accident left me with a bitter taste, so I am not surprised or upset by what she plans to do against her motherAbout the drabble of NanaMai it was great to imagine it even though it was short :heart: :heart:I'll wait to see what happens :twothumbs :D

It's okay I hadn't had time to write cause uni too, damn that place :ptam-mad:Hmmm, I decided not to get into that, but I'll see if I can squeeze out the chapter in later chapter. And yea, Mai obvs are really hurt by what happened and that kind of justify her further course of action.

I'm glad people are liking the drabble, there is some fluff in this chapter too. ISTG I have developed some sort of weird liking into writing one person sleep while the other one is just awake next to them, I hope this doesn't become creepy :nervous

Maiyan is finally back home :cow:I suspect that Nanase is hiding something :?I hope Maiyan and Waka become closer after all they are half sisters :heart: although they have hated themselves most of the time :lol: :lol:I hope that soon you can update :twothumbsThe university is killing me :banghead:

She tried not to grunt as she increases her walking pace along the sidewalk. Out of all days, her bike could act out, it has decided that the day where a thunderstorm is predicted to happen from late afternoon till night is the day. She squeezes the handlebars tighter as if the old rusty bike will understand how much it’s condition irate her. Her eyes gazing forward, squinting as she tries to look for a nearby shelter to shield her from the merciless rain. After several minutes of soggy half-run while pushing the white bike her eyes finally catches the sight of a convenient store ahead.

She took a deep breath before leaping forward and make a sprint for it.

Well, she has heard some theories about how running through a rain will only make it worse, but she couldn’t care less as she’s already soaked from head to toes, even her shoes have become a mini pond by now.

Her heel hit the metal stand near the bike gear to help it stood in front of the store, she wiped out the droplets of rain from her face and decided to tie her wet hair into a ponytail. Thankfully the store has a little bit of roof in front of it, which is kind of good to keep her rain from pouring on her.

Sighing she decided to inspect the condition of the chain, hoping that it’s something that she could fix while waiting for the rain to pass. She was grumbling at her bike’s hopeless condition when a jeep passed at a full speed, causing her to jump back in surprise as it’s causing the puddle to splashed right into her.

It was pointless, though.

“DAMN IT!”

Nishino Nanase is not one for cursing, but the last half-hour has been too challenging to keep them away, so she couldn’t help it anymore. She sits down on the wet concrete floor, trying to control her emotion that has gone into rampage mode, silently cursing the school rules to forbid phones because if she has one with her right now she could have notified someone to help her.

Slowly she started to work again, her hands delicately trying to pull the greasy chain into the gear ring. However, whenever she tried to test it, it’ll get stuck in just a matter of seconds. She gently massages her temple as if a horrible migraine had hit her and that’s when a car slowly stops right next to her.

Nishino sighed as she dragged the bike a bit further back so it wouldn’t block the door car from opening. A second later the passenger door on the back opened and a familiar girl stepped out to approach her.

The girl is a bit taller than her, wearing the same sailor seifuku like her beneath a dark cream cardigan and a grey coat that reach a little bit past her knees. Seeing how many layers the other girl wear makes Nishino started to realize her stupidity for not even bothering to at least bring a raincoat.

“Nishino-chan, do you need any help with that?” The girl asked as she crouched down beside her.

“It’s fine, senpai. As much as I appreciate that but I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do,” she answered honestly, hoping the senior will just proceed to go buy whatever it is she wants to buy and leave her alone as soon as possible.

“Not true. At the very least, I can do this,” The older girl said stand up to take off her coat and drape it over her shoulder.

Considering how soaked she is right now the coat doesn’t really help to restore her body heat, but well it might help to cover the soaked white uniform to be see-through. Still Nishino started to protest, “I’m already drenched, now you’re getting your coat drenched too….”

The truth is she is afraid to bring the coat back with her because she knows if she use it she will need to dry clean it. And that kind of service will be too much for her to afford.

“It’s fine, right now you need it more than me. You can always give it back to me anytime. You can even have it since I have more of those in my closet.” she shrugged as she tried not to shudder upon the cold wind of the rain, “Also. I could get you home and have someone get the bike repaired.”

Nishino raised her eyebrows, starting to think that the girl doesn’t have any intention to buy something in the store from the first place. She was probably the reason why the car stopped, not the store. “No, it’s fine.”

The girl in front of her frowned, totally not used to rejection. She was going to say something else when the driver door opened and a man came approaching the girls, “Ojou-san, is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is fine,” Nishino answered for the girl curtly, hoping she would get the point and stop bothering her.

“Actually, Ijiri-san, do you think it’s okay if we go to Nishino-chan home first? I’m not in a rush for anything anyway.” The girl asked.

“I can’t just leave my bike here, senpai. It’s okay,” she reasoned.

“I believe I know someone who can repair it and get it delivered to your place afterwards. It looks like the rain is not going to stop soon too. It’s better if you come with us, I promise you’ll get home safely.” The man said kindly.

“Not trying to put a pressure on you but you will catch a cold if you stay here any longer,” Shiraishi urged her. “just consider this as an apology after everything that had happened.”

“You have given me enough apologies, senpai.” Nishino frowns remembering all the gifts in fancy boxes that she had to send back because first, she doesn’t feel like it was necessary and second the stuff that was sent to her was too overboard like a white box of white strawberries bouquets.

“But you’ve never actually taken my apology,” Shiraishi pouted a little bit as if trying to show how that hurts her feelings.

Nishino look at the girl in front of her in disbelieves. She realized that Shiraishi is not going to stop unless she took the offer, she sighed before surrendering to the demand. “Fine, but after this, we’re even.”

“Good enough for me,” the upperclassman smirked a little as her chauffeur excuse himself to get something from the store first.

Nishino grumbled as she opened her bag to get the bike’s chain and lock, carefully using the chain to tie the bike to the metal pillar and secure it with the lock afterwards. She catches Shiraishi’s eyes watching her, “I mean it, senpai. After this, I don’t want any present or anything similar.”

“Fine fine, you have my words. You can even have your friend to punch me again if you find me getting on your nerves. Now shall we get in the car?” the other girl answered, not even bothering to wait for her answer and started to usher her into the luxurious sedan.

Nishino tried to use as little space as possible inside the car, not because there is no space for her but because she felt guilty for wetting the leather covered seat from her soaked outfits. Her fingers gripped the fabric of the upperclassman coat, hoping it will help her to gain a little bit of warmth as she started to feel light headed.

Nishino was too focused on keeping herself conscious rather than answering, her body feels hot and cold at the same time, her vision blurring. The last thing she could feel was her body slumping forward followed by some panicked sounding words that she couldn’t comprehend.

Shiraishi Mai had saved her back then.

She had saved her so many times after that too.

Yet Nishino Nanase wasn’t even able to save her that one time. That one time where Shiraishi Mai is the one who needs saving. She wasn’t there.

Nishino sighed, pulling herself to present time as she observes the sleeping woman next to her. Smiling a bit as she remembers those old times they lay on the bed like this. A lot has happened since then. Thinking about that her expression slumped into a guilty one.

Slowly, Nishino leaned forward, closing the distance of her lips to the sleeping girl’s forehead, “I’m sorry, for not being there with you.”

She didn’t realize that when she did that, her eyes have started to water and that drop of water lands on Shiraishi’s index finger, causing her to slowly stir herself awake.

“Nanase?” The older one asked, looking at her with eyes full of questions. “Why are you crying? What’s wrong? Are you hurt!?”

Shiraishi has basically jolted herself up, inspecting the girl intently to find any clues to what is going on.

Shiraishi raised her eyebrows, seemingly surprised by her answered. “Well, they patched me up pretty good.”

“I know,” Nishino smiled sadly as she nodded. She looks away a bit before finally facing her girlfriend once more. Catching the date on the digital alarm clock next to the bed. “I hope you’re ready for today.”

“I just want this to be over with so I can claim my full portion of the company with nothing holding me back.” Shiraishi had said it so calmly that it looks like she’s emotionless. That would have been bothering Nishino if not for the expression slowly melted into a concerned one. “Are you sure you want to come with me today? I promise you I’m going to be okay, you don’t need to take a day off just for this.”

Nishino shook her head, she had made her decision and that decision is she will come to see the trial. Even though it’s just a little, there is still a chance they would lose and Shiraishi will be taken away. She wants to be near her, no matter what happens.

However, once she’s there, sitting among the small group of attendees, she could feel fear starting to creep through her mind. Telling her to run.

In her life, this is the second time she has been on a court. Both are a closed to public ones. Both are also related to child custody case. The difference is this time, she wasn’t the one standing in plaintiff position, Shiraishi is. And unlike Nishino, Shiraishi also has a lawyer to represent her, which basically means that she doesn’t need to explain the situation. That will be the job of Shitara Osamu. Who’s currently standing as he read point per point of Shiraishi demands.

These demands are really simple.

First, Shiraishi demands her mother to pull back her custody right on her.

Second, she also demands her mother to get a restraining order in which she won’t ever come near Shiraishi.

Shiraishi Mai hadn’t even demand any lawsuit money, she already has too much of that. She only needs to get her mother away from her. Something that she has been sure of ever since she was notified of the case.

“Your honor, the first point that we would like to put bring in this trial is how Wakatsuki Kirei, has never been present for a long duration in any case of Shiraishi Mai’s life. She left her a week before her first birthday and after that has avoided any means of contact with her daughter, choosing to act like she doesn’t know her until the day of the accident.

The second reason being that despite being her mother, Wakatsuki Kirei-san has shown lack of capability of being a guardian. On the case, we have presented a camera video taken on the night where Shiraishi-san had a car accident. Despite helping her, Wakatsuki Kirei-san turns her back on her daughter and left the scene.

The third reason being Shiraishi Mai-san is a full grown adult who has her own consent. And Wakatsuki Kirei-san didn’t receive any of that when she signed the guardian paper which will make it invalid.”

The judge nodded, assessing the file on the table intently before looking forward once more. “I call Wakatsuki Kirei-san to the stand.”

Nishino Nanase has never seen Shiraishi’s mother in person before, only a few times from pictures. Even with her close relationship with Wakatsuki not once the woman has been home when she’s present. Now that the parent and child are both in the same room, their resemblance it’s hard to miss. Not only their physical appearance but how the woman moves and speaks are also strangely similar to Shiraishi.

“Is it true that you have never been present in your daughter’s life for the long duration of time?”

“Yes, your honour. But she’s still my daughter and I love her very much.”

“So you’re saying that you weren’t avoiding her? It’s just that you can’t get near to her?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“And what about the video. The footage which shows you standing less than 5 meters away from your daughter. Your daughter that had been hit by a car in front of your eyes. Yet, you turn your back away. Do you have any explanation on that?”

“That night I was scared. Because I believe that wasn’t just an accident, rather an actual murder attempt.” The woman voice starts to crack, she pulls out a handkerchief from her suit pants pocket to wipe out the tears. “They saw me there and they, one of them lower a bit of their window and points a gun to where I stand. I- I wanted to help my daughter. I really do. It’s just I am afraid.”

“Bullshit!” A loud voice cut the woman sob off, everyone who was observing the mother solemnly now averted their attention to where Shiraishi Mai stood. “You could have called the ambulance as you run, but the reports say that it wasn’t you who made the call. No. You just fled the scene, trying to act as if nothing happened.”

“Enough!” The judge slams his hammer to take control of the situation, “Shiraishi-san, an objection has a manner in the court of justice. Please choose your words carefully.”

“I’m sorry, your honor. I will make sure of that.” Shiraishi looked down before she goes back to sitting position.

The judge sighed, moving his focus back to the woman who’s was testifying, “you may continue to your defense.”

“I’m going to read it, your honor. I believe my client needs some time to calm herself down.” A voice who belongs to a really young looking lawyer said. Terada Ranze, Shiraishi had learnt that name earlier. The girl looks like she’s around Ikuta’s age, yet her demeanour tells that she is not exactly a newbie in the attorney field.

The judge nodded. Waiting patiently for the lawyer switched position with her client.

“You honor, the reason of why my client demands the full custody of Shiraishi Mai-san, is because as a mother she wants to protect her. She feels like right now, Shiraishi-san is under an influence of Nogizaka company. Who’s been experimenting on her. They implement this idea that they had saved her, but the truth is they experimented on her without any guardian consent.” The young woman eyes confidently making contact with the jury before she points at the screen in front of her. “The first evidence that my client wants to point outdated back when Shiraishi-san was declared dead by the hospital. We have provided the death certificate that has been signed by the hospital. Yet we suspect that she wasn’t dead from the first place. It was a well-planned kidnapping.”

Shitara Osamu stood, one hand up in the air to have the attention, “objection, your honor. It couldn’t be classified as kidnapping as back then Shiraishi-san’s father herself was the one who plans all of that. The father who was also the legal guardian of Shiraishi-san. I think the word “kidnapping” is unjustifiable in this case.”

“I will put that clarification into consideration, you may go back to your seat.” The judge dismisses Shitara who nodded before sit down to where his seat next to Shiraishi. The judge looks at the female lawyer, “you may continue your defense.”

“Thank you, your honor,” Terada said. “The second point that I would like to bring up is that Shiraishi Mai-san is on a high dosage medication to provoke her emotion. I believe this will make her unfit to make any decision, especially when we consider her current standing.”

“Objection your honor,” Shitara stood up once more. This time, waiting for the judge to give him a nod before defending the statement. “Shiraishi-san has been able to continue her activity without emotion enhancing drugs. The file for this is included in my client’s evidence document. She had even checked herself into 3 different psychologists to support this.”

Wakatsuki Kirei couldn’t help but look at her daughter in surprise, observing the girl who looks calm despite the situation before finally averting her head to the judge once more.

“Thank you, you may go back to your seat.” The judge says, nodding in acknowledgement before he continues. “You may continue your statement.”

“The third evidence that I would like to point out is like Shiraishi-san has seemed to develop a substance addiction. This includes over counter drugs such as aspirins and alcoholic beverages-”

Shiraishi frowned starting to get a bit confused about where do they even got that sort of information when Shitara suddenly stood up and said loudly, “Objection your honor! That has nothing to do with the case.”

The judge raises his hand and said, “you need to keep in mind that we’re only bringing things that relate to the case in this table.”

“I do, your honor. I and my client believe this relates to the case. With how Shiraishi-san life is going, we believe it’s the best if her custody goes to her mother for a moment. Until the situation calm down and we are sure that she can live her life normally.”

“And do you have any proof of this point that you have been explaining to us, Terada-san?”

“We do. After her passing, my client who is also Shiraishi-san’s mother visited her daughter apartment in Tokyo. Only to found bottles of alcohols and a lot of over counter drugs laying around. We did go back to take a picture of that with one of the deputies from the police department to ensure that it’s genuine, which you can find in the evidence. Considering how Shiraishi-san wasn’t exactly doing well on her last couple of weeks before the accident, it’s no surprise if she has a substance addiction. Which could be concerning.”

The judges look at the photograph intently, his forehead wrinkled as he squints his eyes as if trying to make out each pattern of pills and bottles he could find there. Then he nodded, “do you have anything else to add to that?”

Everyone in the room seems to fell into complete silence, only the buzzing sounds of the air conditioner and Terada’s heels reaching their ears for a while.

“I call Shiraishi Mai to the stand,” the judge break the emptiness.

Shiraishi had been notified a possibility of this and has practiced several scenarios with her lawyer, making sure that she would be able to pick the best words. Yet after the last point of the statement, nervous starting too creep into her body.

Yet she still stands, albeit a bit shaky, and walks the place where everyone could see her perfectly as she gives her statement.

“I’m here, your honor.”

The judge fixed his glasses before continuing, “Let us clarify from the first statement. Were you in any way conscious of what happened during the first point, where they had declared you as dead and brings you to Nogizaka facility?”

“No your honor, I was… in a coma back then. I wasn’t conscious and most likely wasn’t going to last long either if not for my father quick thinking.”

“So you approved of your father plan?”

“Yes, I believe my father knows the best for me.”

“And what about after his death, the plan was worked on by his step-daughter. Do you approve of her plan?”

“Yes, Erika is one of my trusted person.” Shiraishi nodded as she answered confidently.

“Now we don’t need your statement regarding the second point as you have provided evidence against that.” The judge flipped the case document on his table. “Moving on to the last point, do you confess to any possession of this evidence that you can see on the screen?”

Shiraishi Mai is at lost for words. She knows that she used to drink at her last days, probably a little bit too much. However, there’s no way those will be hers. She herself only live in that apartment every holiday time, that is also for a short duration. And drugs, that’s a little too much, even for someone like her. “No, your honor.”

“So you do not admit to possessing and using this evidence that was found in your own apartment.”

“No. In my defense. On my last days, I was overseas to pursue my education. I was only back in Japan for short while. Often while it’s a holiday season. And I can swear that I did not own nor use any of that substance in the picture.”

“Enlighten me a little. If this is not yours, why is it inside your house?”

“That must have been because I gave my keys to some of my friends. So they can use the place when they need it while in return cleaning and take care of it.”

“And do you by any chance knows who does these stuff might belongs to?”

Shiraishi halted, her mind form a single name, the only other person besides her who have the key to the apartment as this person is the one who was living there. However, that sounds impossible, so she sighed as she shook her head. “No your honour, my mind is a bit jumbled from the accident. Such things are hard for me to remember.”

“Thank you, Shiraishi-san. You may go back to your seat.” He nodded, flipping the last of the document as he looked at both sides of the trial.

Every single person seems to be tense, wondering how the verdict will turn out. “Based on the evidence and testimonies that were given today. Taking both sides into consideration. Wakatsuki Kirei-san is proven guilty and therefore she’ll lose her rights as Shiraishi Mai-san full guardian. Wakatsuki Kirei-san is also obliged to 8 months of the restraining order of which she would have to keep her distance 20 meters away from Shiraishi Mai-san. By the end of this term, there will be a reassessment of whether this will need to continue or not. The court is adjourned.”

After the hammer hits the table a couple of times. Everyone in the room stands and started to leave. Shitara gave Shiraishi a quick hug and smile, muttering something about how she had done a great job. Wakatsuki also gave her a quick nod. Shiraishi is not sure if Nishino wanted to talk to her or not as she was just giving her a look from where she stood with Sakurai, but before she could process what to do Ikuta already jumped her into a hug.

“I told you it’ll be fine.”

Shiraishi could only nod, truth to be told she is overwhelmed. Sadly, this isn’t because she had just won the case, but however, this is because of the last point of the opposing party defense. She looked at her girlfriend, who is still looking at her with a mixed expression, however, instead of walking towards her Shiraishi walks toward the other side of the room. To where her mother is standing.

“What the hell was that?!”

Her mother raised her eyebrows at her, “isn’t that what I’m supposed to be asking you?”

Shiraishi couldn’t handle it anymore she raised her hand up and yanked the woman collar, causing people around her to start asking her to stop. “WHY THE HELL DID YOU BROKE INTO MY PLACE AND TRASH IT WITH YOUR FUCKING DRUGS!?”

Her fist was a second away from punching her own biological mother when she feels like someone gently pushed her back, another person gets between the two of them.

“I thought you were really on my side, I can’t fucking believe that I trusted you still on that! This is just another job for you, isn’t it?” Shiraishi spat. “A job to sabotage people trusts on my company. By connecting me with drugs cases. I can’t believe you.”

Shiraishi turned her back on her, letting her sister who had placed her hand on Shiraishi’s back to calm her down led her away from the confrontation, eyes closed to keep the anger down.

“Just for your information, it wasn’t me who trashed your place. It was like that when I reach there. You really should be more careful with people that you trust,” the woman said, halting Shiraishi steps for several seconds before she finally lets Ikuta lead her out of the building.

~ To Be Continued ~

AN:This might have been the longest chapter in this series lol. but yea, we're finally starting to get into the last and final arc, which is about Nanase. To be honest I didn't even believe that I will be able to get to this point so I'm just on top of feelings right now :ptam-wub: Anyway have you seen Synchronicity AKA THE BEST SONG WITH THE BEST DANCE MV IN THE WORLD? hahahahah I hope you're enjoying it as much as I do :hip smile: Till next time :deco:

Replies: @amachan48:Ahahahahah, I'm sorry if you feel like that. Well she's not that much of a controlling bitch, that's what I can say for now. She was just get a bit worked up whenever Wakatsuki is mentioned. The reason will be on later chapter when we take a peek into Nanase's back story :oops:

@clin-nolan:I think from this chapter if you try to remember the past ones you can pretty much realise that something had happened. Ahahahah about Waka and Mai, they sort of still have a long way to go. Their problems runs deep than just about Nanase, so it's hard. Like, if you see Kaz, after she knows what kind of person Maiyan is she is not hard to forgive her. But for Wakatsuki it's not that simple. If you get what I mean? :banghead: I hope this update is soon enough and you're liking it :thumbsup I feel like Uni is killing everyone tbh :nervous

Have you ever think that maybe you should have been dead? Like maybe, you have cheated fate far too long that now the fate is coming to get you?

Nishino Nanase used to think about that a lot.

Until Shiraishi Mai came into her life.

To explain why she had thought that way, she'd need to walk down the memory lane. From the beginning, long before the two girls met each other, at the time when Nishino was just a little girl.

She was born from a supposed to be average family, however, most of their money had gone to her mother, who had suffered from Leukemia. Back then, Nishino doesn't know how deadly the illness is, all she knows is that her mother is ill.

The day where she was supposed to celebrate her 3rd birthday. That day turns out to be one of the main turning points in her life. Instead of coming home with the white box she has known so well to be the one that came from the bakery where her family always bought their cakes, her father had come with dusty cardboard. The smile that usually presents on his face was gone, replaced with a gloomy one that she couldn't comprehend.

Her father has lost his job.

She was too young to understand what was going on, but she can see the change in her family routines. It only took her days to finally dared to ask her father what was going on.

"I have to find a job so that we can celebrate your birthday with cakes in the next year." That's how the man tries to explain the situation.

Hearing the words cakes, little Nishino smiled happily, she was too young to know that the cake isn't as important as continuing the treatment for her mother.

However, days went by and her father hadn't even managed to score a decent job. All he can get is a part-time job at the local convenience store and another one in construction.

He had worked day and night yet it still not enough to cover their living cost, let along her mother fat bills of cancer treatment. Until one day, when they came home from one of their mother meetings with the doctor they decided that they had enough.

So they tuck their little girl to the bed and before goes to sleep they gave her a 5 amount of pill.

"But I'm not sick," little Nishino has protested. She always detests medicines, so of course, she will reject it when her parents gave her something while she is feeling completely healthy.

"Sweetheart, this is vitamins. You don't need to be sick to take this," her mother tried to assure her, her voice shakes.

"I want my strawberry vitamins. This one looks bitter," She whines.

"Let's just make it like this, I promise you after you take this, we'll get you something." Her father persuades her. She could see how her mother frowns at the words.

To their delight, their daughter nodded, shutting her eyes as she put the pill in her mouth. They gave her a water to drink it down. However, due to the amount of the pills, not everything managed to be swallowed in the gulp and little Nishino was smart enough to hide that from them.

"We love you very much sweetheart, we promise we're all going to be in a better place soon," her mother suddenly burst into tears as she gave her a kiss on the forehead and hug her, the man followed the hug soon after. Nishino Nanase didn't say anything, she is a bit confused that her parents are more emotional than usual but afraid their parents are going to find out that she doesn't take every single of the "vitamins" if she opens her mouth to ask.

After that her parents turn off the lights in her room and departed into theirs.

Little Nishino spews out the leftover pills in her mouth as soon as she's sure they won't find out. Her mouth tastes bitter, something that she hates so much and drinking down the remaining water on the glass sadly doesn't help to relieve that.

She stares at the ceiling, feeling that her head spinning uncontrollably. She tried to close her eyes, yet the sensation still lingers. Feeling like not being able to take it anymore she went to her parents' bedroom, finding them on the bed, not moving an inch when she tried to shake them awake.

They must have been so tired. That's what she had thought.

So little Nishino Nanase crawled onto the bed, laying down on the tiny space between them. She gave them a little kiss before she shut her eyes.

"Good night, Mama, Papa."

Never did young Nishino Nanase thought that the night is going to be the last that she spent with her parents. That night is etched in her memory and often replayed itself in her dreams, haunting her with the bittersweet moments.

And the day where Shiraishi Mai had learnt her secret was no exclusion for the regular dream to visit her.

Nishino Nanase jolted up, her breath racing as if she had just run a marathon, a painful sting coming from her back, followed by some noises of stuff falling down.

That was just a bad dream, it's already over. That was just her dreadful past that kept on haunting her.

She kept on repeating those sentences inside of her brain. Trying to calm herself down as she slowly pulled herself to the current time.

"Hey, hey, Nanase-chan, it's okay," she can hear a familiar voice and a warm hand touching the skin on her shoulder. Nishino eyes widened, turning her body from facing down position she was into a normal one and inspect the current situation.

She's inside the most luxurious room she has ever been in her life. She had thought Wakatsuki is rich enough, but the modern looking room will make the wooden room of her best friend look pale in comparison. Shiraishi Mai sits next to her on the bed, face mixed of worries and concerned, a new expression that she has never seen on her before. Another person is sitting on the other side of the bed, a young woman who is probably just older than them by a few years, her red knit sweater rolled up halfway, eyes inspecting her thoroughly behind her full framed glasses.

That's when Nishino realizes that she is only wearing the tank top that she was wearing beneath her high school uniform. Her eyes widened as she instinctively grabbed the smooth blanket and pull it up. Ironically, she's not shaken because the two other women are seeing her in the underdressed state, but rather because of the striking bandages around her body.

Her eyes meet Shiraishi's horrified one in total horror.

"You passed out," the upperclassman muttered softly, "Nanase-chan, I think you should have checked yourself into the hospital. Because whatever it is that's happening to you- you- you could have-"

Died.

Nishino knows that is exactly the one word that the older girl is trying to say.

"Senpai, I appreciate your concern and everything that you're trying to do to help me. But this is my own problem and it's a really personal one. So please just let me be and consider none of this has ever happened."

"No. I can't do that." Shiraishi shook her head. "There are two possibilities of how this is going to go. First, you will let Kotoko-san here to patch you up and then we will talk. I will expect you to tell me the truth. Or the second one where I will just call the ambulance right here and sure as hell the whole city will be talking about you for a month considering you're currently inside my house. Your choice."

Nishino gulped down, knowing that there's no way Shiraishi will let the matter go. "Fine."

Shiraishi gave the other person in the room a knowing nod and the woman sighed, she looks totally troubled with the whole situation. "Nishino-chan, isn't it? I'm Sasaki Kotoko, a doctor. Shiraishi-san called me to help you and that's why I'm here right now. I'm sorry to say this, but I haven't gotten a good look on your wounds so if you don't mind please take off your top so I can peel the bandages and see if that's what causing your fever. I can also help you to make the wounds heal faster."

Nishino nodded, but her hands freeze as she realizes that Shiraishi is there, watching. Thankfully, the older girl understands what's happening and stand up. "I'm going to get you a sleeping gown."

"Thank you," Nishino muttered, earning a sad smile from Shiraishi before she left the room.

Albeit hesitant, Nishino took off her top, leaving the bandages around her body clear for the young doctor to see.

"I'll need to take off the bandages, no need to worry I'll patch you up back again once we put some healing cream on the wounds." The doctor let her know before started to gently peel the messy bandages. "Did you bandage all of this yourself?"

"A- yeah."

"I figures. How about the wounds?"

"What about it?" her tone changed into a defensive one.

"I mean, what did you use to treat it?"

Nishino exhaled, feeling thankful that the woman isn't trying to probe about where did they come from. Slowly she started to recount everything that she did to heal it. The doctor listens silently, her eyes fixed on peeling the bandages until there's nothing left that covers her body. Every once in a while she'd flinched, probably because some of her skin accidentally got peeled off with the bandages.

Nishino tried to look anywhere but the doctor, she knows that she won't be able to stand to see the look on people face upon seeing her condition.

A soft sound of the door being opened made Nishino jumped a little, causing the wound that was being gently traced by the doctor made a rough contact with the fingers. Nishino cringed in pain.

Shiraishi who was the one who opened the door halted, her expression gradually changes. Worry, sadness, anger. Nishino feels like there's a bit of each of that. But rather than saying anything about the wounds, Shiraishi give a little nod, closing the door gently.

"Here is the stuff that you need, Kotoko-san." She said as she put a plastic bag on the bedside table. She looks at Nishino for several seconds before finally holding out a pile of clothing that she was carrying. "I think this should do."

Nishino muttered a silent thank you, her hands reaching for the smooth fabric. Shiraishi ended up bringing short pants along with the robe, which Nishino is thankful for cause sitting there with her black tight to cover her bottom is a bit embarrassing.

While Sasaki was observing the medicines that Shiraishi had bring, Nishino uses the little time, to slide the short pants up, the robe sadly will need to wait until the doctor finish patching her up. Still, Nishino hold it close to cover the parts that is not currently being observed.

"I think it's better if I put some cream on the front part first and after that, you can lie down on the bed with the back facing up so I can continue on those," Sasaki explained before started to gently apply the cream on bruises on Nishino's front and right side.

There were not many words being said, just a simple instruction that Nishino will follow, occasional whimpers of pain here and there. Shiraishi herself hadn't said anything, just watching her getting treated from the side with a pained expression. Nishino noticed how the older girl would flinch from time to time as if the doctor were working on her too.

Once it's finally over, Sasaki left the room, leaving the two high school students for the private conversation that Shiraishi has demanded before.

"What happened?" the older one started, staring at her in uncertainty.

Knowing there's not much Nishino can do to have Shiraishi shut her mouth about the matter, Nishino tells her the truth. Hoping that at least with that, Shiraishi will understand her reason.

So she told her about what happened to her parents, how they committed suicide, how confused she was when she had woken up in the morning, finding their skin pale and cold. How after that, her uncle which is the only family that she has left was the one who gets to be her guardian, raising her from the young age to where she is now.

"He had cared for me, raised me as if I'm his own child. But even my uncle has his limit. About two years ago, his business failed. Causing him with a lot of debts that he almost couldn't cover and after that, he basically has no money left for creating a new business nor that the bank trusts him again after what had happened. He- has problems, he's not suited to work under someone else, I guess. Well, this makes him really frustrated. Every day he would come home drunk and eventually his habits caught up with his job too, causing him to lose it again and again.

He thinks that it's my fault. Because I am a bad luck." Nishino smiled bitterly, trying to hide the emotional pain that it caused just from saying the words.

"What did he do to you?"

"It differs from his mood. Sometimes, he just beat me up. Saying how ungrateful I am for having him raising me despite the bad luck that comes with it. Other times he-" Nishino sighed, "he pinched me with his cigarettes, he thinks that could be the way to erase my bad luck."

"Why are you letting this happening to you!? You know how easy it is to call up the police and let him be in the place where he belongs. He is torturing you!"

"I- can't... Senpai, not every single wound on my body comes from him. In fact, I-" Nishino look to her shaky hands, not being able to face the upperclassman. "I was the first one who created those wounds."

Shiraishi goes into silence, Nishino let her have her moment for several seconds before admitting it to her. "I don't think that I should be alive. That's why I don't want other people to know because I'm not sure I'll be able to handle them."

Nishino observed the silent girl whose body was trembling a bit. After a while, her head finally goes back up to meet Nishino's.

"Fine, I won't say anything about this and I will make sure that Kotoko-san doesn't too. However, I don't ever want you to fell ill just because of a mere infection. So, I'm asking you to please let Kotoko-san help you whenever your body needs it." Shiraishi sighed.

"Thank you, senpai."

Shiraishi nodded, looking straight into her eyes with a gentle expression. "I won't judge any of your life choices. However, I feel like I need to let you know that you don't deserve any of that. Nanase-chan, you should stop punishing yourself for something that is not even your fault. Bad luck? That's a nonsense. Nanase-chan, now that I already know everything, please don't hesitate to tell me if you're facing a problem, okay? I promise I won't judge. It's just I need you to feel better. Because for me, you are a wonderful person. I really wish you can see that too. "

Sadly, Nishino has never been able to clearly understand the reason for Shiraishi Mai to think that she's wonderful. However, from that day, just knowing that Shiraishi thinks so has started to be one of a few reasons for Nishino to keep going.

~ To Be Continued ~

AN:HI ALL! First of all I want to say sorry for breaking Nanase so bad. Like hmm this is the main storyline that I have planned from the beginning that I wrote this series but as the time goes I have started to wonder if that will be good or not. Anyways, I was considering whether to change it into a lighter one but I realise that with the plot that has basically been built since the beginning backing down will ruin everything. So I really hope this will be good enough :bow:Please do let me know about what you think, I'm really really nervous about this chapter. Because well from the beginning this story its dark but now it has gone fifty shades darker (in a gruesome ways) lol